The Summer After
by MaxKnight1010101
Summary: PRDT - Exploring the events of the Summer beyond the defeat of Mesogog
1. The Aftermath

**Author's Note**: So this is my first stab at actually writing Fan Fiction that I have the intention of actually publishing somewhere. Please don't be gentle. Be as relentless as you can in letting me know what you like and don't like about what's actually written so far. I appreciate any and all feedback I can get. I make no promises about the direction of the story, neither will I comment on the potential 'ships (though if anybody knows me from my profile or reviews, you should know at least one that's likely to show up before long). I have no idea if I can sustain an underlying plot (or if I even have a plot yet), but I figure it's best to plant a seed here or there and hope for the best. As I go along, if you have any ideas, please include them in a review, and I'd be happy to talk it over! And if I seem to have gotten a fact wrong here or there, please let me know. If it's not something I was already intending to change, well, I might just have to make a correction here or there. Full credit will be given to people that help me with errors and advice!

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is currently owned by Saban, and at the time of Dino Thunder was owned by Disney. At this time, the only thing I own is the story and the actual wording itself.

* * *

It was the final battle. His island was destroyed, his generals were defeated, and not even the power he was able to absorb from the Gems for the short time that he had them was able to help him seal his victory. The battle with Mesogog was messy and brutal. All conventional methods failed, from individual attacks, the combined Z-Rex Blaster, even Conner's Battlizer wasn't enough to topple the half-man, half-dinosaur creature. It took the combined power of the Dino Gems, washing over him with a wave of pure goodness to completely destroy the thoroughly evil monstrosity. Such a selfless act sacrificed the entire power of the Gems, causing those that harnessed the power to revert back to normal humans.

The Power Rangers of Reefside, California had just won a war, without anyone ever knowing who they really were. The only two neutral civilians to have learned their secret had just given up their proof of who they really were, another sacrifice for the greater good. Unbeknownst to Conner McKnight, Kira Ford, Ethan James, Trent Fernendez, and their teacher and mentor Doctor Tommy Oliver, this sacrifice in the name of friendship caused a spark which was imperceptible to all.

At this point, the five were left in a stunned, silent circle. Or rather, four of them were stunned, while one of them stood in silent contemplation, a thoughtful look splayed across his face. A soft, clear voice broke through the quiet, "Dr. O., I have a couple of questions."

Shaken by the suddenness of the previous statement, Tommy and the rest turned to the speaker, "What's on your mind, Conner?"

"Since you said the Gems are now powerless, no other evil should ever be after them, making it safe for us to keep them, right?"

Tommy's brow creased at this, wondering exactly where Conner was going with his question, "Yes, that's right. Why, what are you thinking about?"

"Well, I was just thinking that I could do something, something for the team, you know? As a kind of a way for us to remember each other, even if we don't stick together," Conner fidgeted for a second before continuing on, "I was thinking that if the Gems wouldn't stay in the bracelets any longer, I could make pendants out of them, as a memento of our time as Rangers."

"That… actually sounds like a good idea," Kira, who hadn't moved or said a word up to this point, adopted a thoughtful look of her own at Conner's rather sudden idea.

Tommy, realizing an opportunity when he saw it, saw fit to agree. "Alright, I can approve of that. What's your other question?"

Looking down at his own wrist, Conner took a deep breath to steady himself and gather his thoughts together. "Our bracelets… they can still be used as communicators without the Gems, right?"

"Conner, you know these aren't supposed to be for casual calls…"

"No, Dr. O., you don't understand, I'm not talking about using them for just anything. I'm talking about emergency situations, like in case we can't use a cell phone for some reason." Conner stared into Tommy's eyes with a determination rarely seen outside of the soccer field. "You have to admit, these bracelets are a little unconventional as a means of communication."

Nodding in understanding, Doctor Oliver, who already respected the young man's abilities as a leader and a Ranger, now saw him in a completely new light. These questions seemed to indicate an entirely new facet to the former Red Ranger that no one on the team had ever actually seen before. "You're right, Conner, the Gems aren't needed to power them, and I can see no reason to not continue to wear the bracelets. Just promise me you won't use them for social calls."

"No problem, Dr. O., we all promise. I'd better go. I'd like to get started on the pendants and necklaces tonight. Best to start early and get it out of the way. Would you come with me, Trent?"

Blinking at the sudden attention, Trent was slightly taken aback. "Wait, what? What do you want, Conner?"

"Your Dino Gem is shaped a little different from the rest of ours. I'd like to go ahead and get your pendant out of the way first, if that's alright with you."

"Oh, uh, no problem, I guess. Lead the way, fearless leader." Trent followed Conner away from the battle site, appearing to participate in small talk with his former leader. The three remaining teammates stood by watching the less than dramatic exit of the two, wonderment playing within their minds.

"What was that about?" Kira questioned.

"I don't know… was that really Conner? I've never heard him talk like that before." Ethan's reply was soft spoken, not entirely convinced that he'd even seen any of this.

"Well, I think I like this Conner better, besides, it's nice to see them working out their differences, finally."

Tommy slowly shook his head. "That has nothing to do with it. No, if anything, that's just Conner admitting defeat." A look of disappointment washed over Tommy's face when he said this. While Kira was confused by this, Ethan took a moment to come to a complete understanding. Looking up at her mentor, Kira regarded him questioningly, wondering what exactly he meant by that statement. "Sorry, Kira, it's not my place to elaborate. If Conner wants you to know, he'll tell you."

"Well, this has been great and all, but I've got to get back to the theater. I told you guys before, I've been waiting for this one for awhile. See you guys!" Ethan ran off to return to the waiting line, hoping beyond hope that his place was still saved.

"Guess we should get out of here, too. Let's head back to Hayley's, I'm sure she's wondering what happened to us. She'll be thrilled to hear that it's all over. Elsa, you want to come with us?" Tommy called to Elsa from where she had been hanging out off to the side.

"I… uh… okay. Sure, why not. But please, call me Elizabeth. Mesogog called me Elsa to separate me from my human side," Elizabeth replied, "If it's possible, I'd love to start over and try to forget everything I did as one of Mesogog's generals."

"Sounds good to me, let's go!" As the three of them left the site, no one noticed a slightly eerie wind starting to blow…


	2. Their Junior Prom

**Author's Note**: Let's get some explainations underway... First off, as for the title, I've tried to explain before in my profile that I completely believe that Dino Thunder takes place in their Junior year of High School. This is my perspective, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily right. If there's some official source that states without any doubt that it's supposed to be Senior Year, well, then consider this AU. Now, for a question: I've seen countless numbers of times where Ethan's date/girlfriend is named Angela. Is this correct/official? Also, are there any official last names for her or Krista? If not, I'll make them up on the spot if I have to. I've got an idea on what I would make them if there's nothing official. Once again, truthful reviews about what's good and especially what's bad is appreciated.

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban, Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. At this time, the only thing I own is the story and the wording itself.

* * *

Reefside High School's Prom was in full swing. Everyone appeared to be having a great time, and it had been several days since the last monster attack. Rumors had spread that the Power Rangers had finally and completely won, and that they would no longer be needed. Whether this was true or not, the students were not going to let anything ruin their fun!

Ethan James was standing alone in the Gymnasium, playing a handheld video game. Conner McKnight and his date Krista wandered over to him, arms linked, looks of puzzlement adorning their faces, partially at the sight of Ethan playing his game at Prom, and partially at seeing him at Prom in the first place. "Ethe, man, what are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming to Prom," Conner started.

"Oh, hey Conner. Just felt like showing up, I guess," a small grin began to build on Ethan's face.

Having noticed this, Conner pieced together what that look was all about, adopting a grin of his own. "You… you have a date, don't you?"

"I guess you'll just have to wait to find out."

A tall girl approached Ethan from behind, her smile wide from watching the exchange unfold, "Oh, maybe not entirely that long."

"Ah, great timing!" Ethan put away his game and turned to face the newcomer, putting an arm around her waist. "Guys, meet my date, Angela. Angela, meet one of my best friends, Conner, and his date Krista." Krista looked a little perturbed at this description, but quickly reverted back to smiling as intently as should could.

Looking her up and down, Conner decided to venture the question that's been burning in his mind since she showed up, "So, where did you find her, Ethe?"

"Remember that movie I wanted to see so badly? I met her in line. I kept getting called away, and she held my place in line. We got to talking, and I found out she's a Junior here, same as us. We've got a lot in common, it seems, and I guess you could say we hit it off. That's why we're here together."

"Well, I'm happy for you. Say, has anyone seen Trent or Kira?" Conner started looking around intently, trying to find his other former teammates.

* * *

Up on the balcony of the Gym, four figures stood milling about, quiet conversation pervading the atmosphere, just above the sound of the music coming from the dance floor. Tommy Oliver and Trent Fernendez were discussing their futures with Trent's adoptive father, Anton Mercer, and the liberated person known as Elizabeth Randall.

"So, you're sure about not returning in the Fall, Trent?" Tommy posed this question, knowing that his leaving had nothing to do with past actions, but instead looking to break into a new future.

"Yeah, after having my skill praised by one my own idols already, I figure the best thing to do is to jump start my career by taking my Senior year at an Art Vocational School." Trent's reply was genuine, though he found himself fingering the new pendent that he wore about his neck which contained the now powerless White Dino Gem that was the sole reason for his being in his present company.

A quick nod in understanding, Tommy turned to regard his former employer, "So, I hear you guys are headed somewhere right after the school year is up. What's the plan?"

Anton took a sip of the punch he had been carrying with him, then faced his son before answering, "We are going upstate to check out the campus of the school, and will be sticking around long enough to find him an apartment and to check the employment situation. It's too far away for him to commute, so he'll have to live up there for the school year. We talked it over, and Trent's decided he wants to move up there early on the Summer in order to acclimate to the environment before he has to start taking classes."

"The team is going to feel a little broken up about that."

Trent smirked at this, knowing his former enemy and mentor wasn't actually trying to disuade him, "I know this, but I'm sure they'll understand. Please don't tell them, though. I want to tell them myself after we get back. The less time they have to try to convince me not to, the better. Once the rental agreement is signed, there's little chance of backing out."

"Sure thing, no problem." Tommy turned to Ms. Randall, "Now, what about you, Elizabeth? Are you prepared to return to being Principal of Reefside High?"

Elizabeth shook her head, a slight hesitation evident in her tone, "I'll never likely be prepared. The returning students are going to have a hard time connecting the person they all saw transform into Elsa this year with the person I am now. The only reason I'm allowed to be principal again in the first place is thanks to you and Anton vouching for me. After enough time, I may be able to feel normal, but for now, I'm still a little frightened of what to expect."

Tommy was about to reply when a shrill ringing sound pierced the air. Tommy fumbled through his pockets producing the offending cell phone, ripping it open without even checking the ID, "Hello, this is Doctor Oliver."

"_Tommy, bro! What's with the formal speak, man?"_

"Oh, hey Jase, what's up?"

"_What are you doing once the school year is up?"_

"I have to work for the first couple of days, but otherwise I'm free."

"_Great, how would you like some company up in your lonely forest retreat?"_

"You dropping by for a visit? Sure, why not? It'll be nice for something remotely normal to happen around here for a change. Is it just you?"

"_Nah, man, there'll be three of us. One of the others you should know already, but the third is going to be a surprise!"_

"Can't wait… oh crap, I've gotta go do something. I totally forgot about it. See ya then, Jase!"

"_Typical Tommy. Take care, bro, and catch you later!"_

Tommy closed his phone and gave an apologetic look to his companions before rushing off. "I'll take this as my cue to go hunt down the others. See you at home, Dad," Trent said before turning off to walk down to the Gym floor.

* * *

Doctor Oliver announced Kira and her band, to the applause of the entire crowd gathered for Reefside's Prom. Trent had joined his former teammates and was clapping along with them, though none louder than Conner, who's cheering was starting to slightly annoy his date. It wasn't that Krista had anything against Kira, but somehow this action crossed some intangible line for her, which Conner's seemingly close friendship with the musician couldn't be adequately explained away. To her, it should be physically impossible for Conner McKnight to have a female best friend that wasn't his girlfriend. Kira's set marked the end of the Prom event, and the four former Dino Thunder Rangers along with Krista and Angela left for an After Prom party at Haley's Cyberspace café. While the night appeared to be a rousing success, not all parties involved were completely satisfied with how the night played out. These four friends were hiding something, and she wasn't going to stand for such secrets…


	3. Tommy gets some Visitors

**Author's Note**: Thank you to all of my reviewers so far. While I will never require reviews to motivate me, they certainly are appreciated. _Ghostwriter_: Thank you for supporting the decision to make it their Junior Year. _Pink Wolf Princess_: While yes, Krista didn't seem so bothered at the time, we didn't actually see all that many interactions between her and all of the Rangers at once. I figure that it shouldn't take all that much time for her to start resenting their constant togetherness and interactions. _OrianPrime92_: Of course there's going to be more! Once I get started on a public project like this, I rarely completely give up. _fanficrulez_: Yes, Krista's going to have some issues with Conner, and a few of them will be seen in this chapter. As for the mystery guest, while Kimberly was a good guess, I think it's a little too early to introduce her. _NightWatcher666_: I never really watched SPD, and from what I can tell, it's supposed to be set in the far future, anyways. It may not be a popular decision, but I'm willing to skip over that season as far as being canon for my story is concerned. This will also eliminate the Always a Ranger episode from Operation Overdrive. Everything else is fine, though, and we can just act like Mystic Force and Operation Overdrive were around for their threats in 2005 and 2006 instead. _DarkBlue86_: I'd just like to thank you once again for your confidence in me and the kind words expressed. I'd also like to thank you once again for continuing your excellent stories along with Z. Stories such as yours continue to inspire.

Now for some real notes about this chapter. As I've stated before, I had a completely different third chapter already typed up, but I felt that it was too early for that one to be presented. As such, I just got done writing this monster of a chapter. It's the most I've written in one chapter so far, weighing in at 5,574 words before the Author's Note and Disclaimer. Anyways, it may seem strange for Trini to be trying to guide Kira in the direction of one over another, and especially strange that she would claim to have read into Conner that much from just body language and facial expressions, but you have to realize that she's operating on much more information than she's letting on, and really, it's all Tommy's idea, anyways. There's not much interaction from Billy yet, since most of his lines would come in during his time in the basement with Tommy and Ethan. I've managed two flashbacks in this one, and I hope you find the first one as entertaining as I did while writing it. The idea for it just popped into my head, and I couldn't just not write it in.

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban, and Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. I only own the story and the words themselves.

* * *

School finally let out in the city of Reefside. Summer Vacation was the start of exciting times, as the students no longer had to worry about getting up early for class, and even better than everything else, there had been no more monster attacks! The citizens finally started feeling safe, and although nobody could seem to contact them, they all thanked the Power Rangers for their efforts over the previous nine months.

One week had passed, and it was the first Friday of Summer Vacation. The now former Dino Thunder Rangers had neither seen nor heard from Trent since the last day of school, and Conner was rarely seen as for some reason Krista had decided to commandeer all of his time, leaving him only the mornings for him to do his daily exercise routine and what little he was able to hang out with his best friends. While it was a little disturbing, neither Kira nor Ethan could exactly blame her for this, and wasn't about to get in the middle of it, figuring Conner would say something to her at some point.

On the other hand, Trent's whereabouts being unknown was more of a problem, and Kira was starting to worry. She walked into Hayley's for some breakfast and to find Ethan and ask him if he's heard from Trent. She found him just as he was getting up to take a break from whatever game he had started playing, and upon learning of nothing new, they decided to go find Conner, who was likely still doing some solo practice at the soccer field at the school. They found him running around practicing little tricks and whatnot.

After watching for some time, Kira shook her head to clear her thoughts, and just as Conner was getting ready to make a run for the soccer ball to give it a final mighty kick into the goal some distance away, Kira yelled out, "Have you heard from Trent?"

The effect from this one question was completely unexpected. For one, Conner had no idea they were there watching him, and for another thing, the question obviously disturbed him somewhat. What took the cake, however, was that he didn't wind up tripping flat on his face, but he appeared to turn into a rather red blur, headed straight for the soccer ball, then managed to land several meters away from the ball flat on his back. The ball moved barely three inches backwards.

Kira and Ethan looked to each other, then ran straight to him, neither one understanding how that just happened. Once they reached him, Kira asked, "Conner, are you alright? How did you just use your powers?"

Conner was still a little disoriented, and continued to lay there while trying to figure it all out. Blinking a few times to push away the dizziness, Conner replied, "I'm fine… but did I really just do that? I thought the Gems were powerless, and we along with them?"

"Maybe we should go see Dr. O. about this? He might be able to help us figure it out." Ethan said.

"Good idea. Think you're up for driving, Conner?" Kira asked, knowing he wouldn't want anybody else driving his car, anyways.

"Yeah, I'm good now. Let's go." Conner let Kira and Ethan help him to his feet. He picked up his soccer ball and led the way to his car. The trip to Tommy's house in the woods was uneventful. When they got there, however, they were surprised to find not only Tommy's jeep, but also a red sedan parked right beside it. None of them knew who owned the vehicle, and they weren't sure if they should disturb the good doctor while he had company, but since this seemed like an emergency situation, they decided to press on and see what they can figure out.

They knocked on the door with urgency, though not hard enough to seem annoying. Tommy answered the door looking slightly annoyed at first, but his expression softened when he saw who it was. Starting to smile, he gestured for the three to enter, saying, "I was just going to call you guys to come up at Noon. Pretty good timing, really."

He ushered them into the kitchen, where three other individuals were sitting at center island of the kitchen. All three looked approximately Tommy's age, and were comprised of a somewhat muscular man in red, a slender Asian woman in yellow, and a tall, sandy haired man in blue. At first, none of the teenagers recognized them, so they just stood there, wondering why Dr. Oliver would want to invite them over when he already had company.

Tommy realized he needed to say something, since it seemed his first guests weren't about to do introductions for them. "Guys," he said, "I want you all to meet some of my oldest friends, Jason Scott, his wife Trini Scott, and Billy Cranston. These three are Conner McKnight, Kira Ford, and Ethan James; the red, yellow, and blue Dino Thunder Power Rangers."

Conner's eyes widened at that last statement. "Dr. O.!" he hissed, "what's with the revealing identities?"

Tommy just laughed at this. Turning to face the teens, he said, "I guess you three don't remember the video any, huh? These are three of the original Power Rangers; the red, yellow, and blue Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers."

"So these are the rookies?" Jason asked, not even fighting the predatory smile creeping across his face.

Before the teens could even start to react to that statement, Trini spoke up, "Now now, Jason, don't torment the kids. We were there once. Don't forget that they've already beat their bad guy and he's not coming back."

"It is a pleasure to meet you all. It seems you have come for a different reason than to meet us, however, since Tommy did not even get a chance to call you before you showed up." Billy said calmly.

The three turned their attention to Tommy, looking slightly worried. Conner spoke up, trying to sound as leaderly as possible, "My super speed kicked in at the soccer field. I thought the Gems were powerless, and us along with them. We came up here to see if you could tell us what's going on."

Kira stepped forward after he got done talking, deciding to sound her own grievance as well, "Also, none of us have heard from Trent since school let out. I'm a little worried about that, since we can't seem to reach his cell phone, and no one answers at his house. Do you know anything? Is this an emergency that we can use the bracelets?"

Throughout Kira's dialogue, an interesting thing occurred which none of the adults missed. Conner's expression changed from concern, likely because of his own condition with the newly activating powers, to anger, then what appeared to be jealousy, then finally to… hope? They pieced together that this had as much to do with her asking about this Trent person as much as it was the fact that it was she who was asking in the first place. Jason and Trini exchanged glances.

"I can't tell you what's going on with Trent," Tommy started, "but I can tell you that it isn't an emergency, and that they are perfectly safe. Don't worry about them. Trent will tell you where they went when they get back. Now, about Conner's problem… could you give me your Gem, Conner? The lab is still a little trashed, but a few things still work down there. Billy, Ethan, could you two give me a hand with testing this?"

The two of them nodded in agreement, and Tommy opened up the secret door to the lab, leading the way for the two Blues. Trini and Jason nodded to each other, knowing they were about to interfere in the lives of two teenagers, but also knowing this would likely wind up helping them both in the end.

"Kira, could I talk with you out on the back porch?" Trini asked. Kira's eyes widened in excitement; she was getting the chance to talk one-to-one with the original Yellow Ranger. As they exited the kitchen, Jason motioned for Conner to follow him.

"Let's get comfortable in the living room. I want to talk with you too."

* * *

Kira filed outside behind Trini and both of them took a seat on the back porch swing. Kira fidgeted for a second before Trini decided to speak up, "So, tell me about him."

Kira stared out to the woods, smiling a bit before answering her elder. "He's the quiet artistic type. He can be dependable, and doesn't just jump to conclusions. Unlike some people, he thinks before he speaks. He seems to have some trust issues, but I've been trying to help him with that. Sometimes he doesn't seem to want help, though…"

"Does he know how you feel towards him?"

"I think so, but I'm not completely sure. He hasn't acknowledged it if he has. We've certainly never gone out before."

"Why are you so worried about him not being around right now? It is the first week of Summer for you all; maybe his father took him on a vacation to help him cleanse himself of the events of the last year?"

"Did Dr. O. tell you about Trent's time as the Evil White Ranger?" Trini nodded at this. "Well, before he was turned completely evil, he came to me and told me what he was, then before we could try to help him, he decided to run away. This is part of the trust issue, that he doesn't really know when to ask for help. It's like when he knew his father was Mesogog before we found out. He kept it a secret instead of telling us. We might've been able to help him, but he couldn't ask for it. It's like he thought we wouldn't want to help just because he was evil against his will."

Trini took in all of this. It's not that she hadn't heard most of it from Tommy in the past few days, but hearing it from Kira's perspective helps sort things out a little better. She could see the divide between the facts of what happened with Trent and what Kira wanted to happen with Trent. A sigh from Kira brought Trini out of her thoughts.

"Have you thought about how you would feel if Trent did not share an interest in you the way you do with him?"

Kira scrunched her nose at this. She hadn't ever wanted to think of that, but here she was, being forced to. "No, I try not to. I figure if I can remain positive about the whole thing, he will eventually reciprocate my feelings."

Trini simply nodded and decided to forge on to the other point she wanted to discuss. "What about Conner?"

Kira simply looked puzzled by this sudden inquiry. "What about him?"

Deciding that a blunt object would work better when broaching this subject, Trini continued, "What are your feelings for him?"

Kira's eyes widened in disgust at this. Kira liking Conner? No way! "Ugh, no! Why would I want to have feelings for that arrogant, self-centered, egotistical, pig-headed moron?" Trini was taken aback at this sudden outburst.

"Are you sure you're talking about Conner? He doesn't seem that bad based on what I've heard and what I've observed so far today."

The small bit of fury that rose up in Kira died quickly at this. She knew she was overreacting, but seriously? How could Trini ever get that idea in the first place? "No, I suppose Conner's not like that anymore. He was when we first met him, but he has improved since becoming a Ranger. It's just hard to see him any other way. Plus even if I did feel anything for him, which I don't, he's dating Krista, and he seems serious with her. Though she certainly has been doing her level best to keep him away from both Ethan and I."

Once again, this bit of news about Conner wasn't exactly news to her, but Trini now thinks she can understand a little for why Kira thinks Conner was serious with Krista. "Would you like to hear what I see in Conner, based on what I've heard and seen of him?" Kira cocked her head to one side, indicating that she wouldn't mind hearing the woman's observations. "From what I've heard, Conner has grown to be an exceptional leader, and has even shown a new side of himself since your powers were used up. His attitude is no longer quite as arrogant, and is much more reminiscent of extreme self confidence. He appears to glorify himself much more, but still knows when his own abilities are wanting and will ask for help when needed, and is always will to lend a hand, even if he has a personal reason not to. While he doesn't think before talking or acting, he does everything from his heart, and puts his all into everything that he does. The thought of any innocent people getting hurt in the struggle against Mesogog sickened him, and the need to protect others helped him access new depths of power that nobody knew he had." That last statement shocked Kira, since all this time, she had assumed it was Conner's feelings for Krista that allowed him to access his Triassic Battlizer without needing energy from Ethan or herself. If it was just a need to protect the innocent, what exactly did that mean?

Sensing she had struck a chord with that last part, Trini decided to continue on in the effort to push her point across, "As for what I've observed so far, Conner's self confidence off of the fields of battle or soccer is much diminished, and he seems to draw support from you and Ethan in order function as he normally would. Under the surface is someone who is scared that without having something in common, like being a Power Ranger, there won't be any good reasons for you three to hang out together and be friends. He's especially insecure when he's just around you, and appeared downright crestfallen when you were asking about Trent." Kira's earlier confusion over Conner's motivation to protect segued into panic at Trini's words. Could she possibly be trying to tell her that Conner was hiding feelings for her?

Kira's voice was small, almost scared of what Trini's answer to her was going to be, "Are… are you trying to tell me that Conner has feelings for me?"

"He hasn't said anything to me specifically, but from what I've read of his body language and facial expressions, I'd have to say that he does. Something is holding him back, though. I'm surprised you never noticed, but then again, you probably didn't think to pay that much attention, what with your crush on Trent, I'm sure."

Kira reeled at this revelation. It made complete sense that all of this could have been happening around her without one bit of it reaching her. Everything hit her all at once, and she finally started understanding what it all meant. The closeness that she shared with Conner which she attributed to them simply being best friends, the attention she seemed to garner on the battlefield, all those soccer games that he insisted she attend for him, how he never missed a single one of her concerts if he could help it, and the anger and over-protectiveness he showed when Trent was still evil. That last one especially, what with all the attention she was showing Trent and how angry she would get with Conner when he was just trying to look out for his team, and especially her.

Seeing this reaction, Trini placed a calming hand on Kira's shoulder. "Conner knows that you've never noticed any of this, so it may be best if you wait to let him say something. I have a feeling it won't be long before he comes clean about his feelings, anyways. Just give it some thought. There really is more to Conner than what's on the surface. If you gave him a chance, you might just be pleasantly surprised." Trini gave her a smile and a wink at this. Kira blushed slightly at the thought. Trini held out her other hand, "Could I have your cell phone for a moment? I'd like to put my number in it, in case you want a friendly chat, or need advice on anything."

Kira got her phone out of her pocket and handed it over. A minute later, Trini was done and had handed it back. Trini turned back to her protégé and asked, "Think it's time we headed inside? If the boys are done we can find out what's going on with Conner's Gem, and maybe we can tell some embarrassing stories about Tommy?" Kira perked up at that last bit, and they got up to head inside. As they entered through the back door, the last piece of Conner's conversation with Jason wafted in to them.

"As much as I hate to admit it, if Kira can find happiness with Trent, my feelings don't matter. I just want to see her happy."

* * *

The four in the living room were talking and laughing for the last twenty minutes, Trini and Jason regaling stories of their Ranger days from before Tommy joined the team. They figured there was no reason to tell embarrassing stories when the guy wasn't actually around to be embarrassed. Tommy, Billy, and Ethan came up from the lab at this time, and handed Conner his Gem Pendant, his face not betraying the news he was about to give.

"It seems the Gems aren't as powerless as I thought they were. Either I was wrong when I stated that they were completely used up, or something happened to give them a slight recharge. I checked all three of our Gems and got the same result: there's a very small charge of energy left in them. I have no idea if the Gems are capable of recharging completely, but I do know that it's not currently enough for a full morph. I also don't know why your power suddenly showed up, since neither Ethan nor I can get our own powers to work right now, despite having the same amount of charge as yours. Before you guys leave, I'll test Kira's Gem as well, but I believe the same result will pop up as with ours."

Conner looked deep in thought at this, which the others figured meant he had no clue what was just said. He simply leaned back after a moment and said, "Okay, well then I guess we'll just have to keep our eyes and ears open and pay more attention to what we're doing from here on out. If there's any indication of what causes the powers to manifest, we need to be ready to react to it. We'll let you know as soon as we come up with anything."

Kira and Ethan simply stared at their former leader, Tommy adopted an expression of disbelief while shaking his head and Billy and Jason were nodding in approval of the plan. Trini simply smiled, knowing this helped her case with convincing Kira about Conner's intentions and personality.

"Okay then," Tommy started, "well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starting to get a little hungry. Why don't Jason and I bust out the grill and we get started on some hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch? The rest of you can get everything else set up. We'll eat out back."

The seven of them split off to attend to their duties getting lunch ready. Once everything was set up and prepared, they all sat around the picnic table to relax and enjoy each others' company. At least, until Jason decided it was story time, much to the kids' delight and Tommy's chagrin.

"This one's actually not one from when he was a Ranger. This one actually took place only a couple of days ago." Jason took a breath to keep himself from laughing right then and there. Tommy's cheeks were already turning red, since he knew exactly what was coming, and he knew he couldn't stop Jason from telling it.

* * *

_Flashback to two days previous_

_Jason and his companions were approaching Tommy's house in the woods, still in wonder that he even lived in this remote of a place. Billy broke the silence, "I haven't been here for almost five years. It hasn't changed a bit."_

"_The outside, maybe, but according to Tommy, his basement's been trashed." Jason said as he put the car in park and cut the engine. It was quiet as the three approached the house. Well, almost quiet, as out of nowhere a rather crazy sounding scream sounded from above them. The next thing Jason knew, he was being tackled from above and wrestled away from the group, a clearly insane man clad in black with spiked hair having jumped from the roof._

"_Tommy…?" Trini had started, but the man would hear none of it, as an impromptu sparring/wrestling match started between the two old friends, and nothing short of a new villain could tear the two apart at this point. They went at it for several minutes, neither giving any ground to the other. Finally, Jason, still tired from the trip up from Angel Grove, tripped slightly, allowing Tommy to get the upper hand, finally pinning the more muscular man to the ground._

"_Alright already, I give!" Jason shouted. Tommy stood up and gave Jason a moment to stretch out on the ground before helping him to his feet. "What the heck are you on, bro? What gives, jumping me like that?" Jason didn't necessarily sound angry, but he figured that if Tommy was really mental at this point, he didn't want to provoke him until he had the chance to rest up a bit._

"_Sorry, I just haven't seen you in awhile and wanted to give you a proper greeting." Yep, clearly insane. Jason started backing away slowly at this point, but Tommy would have none of that. He pulled the man into a brotherly hug and beckoned for all of them to come into the house. "It's just been so quiet since we took care of Mesogog, and now that school is over and everything I've gotten kind of bored. I've also been slightly out of it since being drained of yet another set of powers, so seeing you guys got me kind of charged up. Billy, it's good to see you, by the way. I had no idea you'd be here, since he wouldn't tell me."_

_By this point, they had entered the house and was seated in the living room. Jason happily collapsed into the recliner and put his feet up, exhausted from the trip up and Tommy's 'greeting.' They took this opportunity to catch up with one another and gladly heard all they could about the latest group of Power Rangers, whom they were actually quite excited to meet, all for different reasons.

* * *

_

"You guys visited just because you wanted to meet us?" Conner asked, slightly incredulously since he figured it ought to have been the other way around.

"Well, we heard the core of the latest group was Red, Yellow, and Blue, so we figured you would want to meet the originals for those colors, and we wanted to see you guys since you are somewhat continuing our legacy." Trini replied.

While this statement brought about a moment of quiet contemplation, it was not all that long lasting. Soon, they sunk back into a rhythm of quiet banter and storytelling, bringing laughter and embarrassment to everyone involved. Time flew by, and before long the teens needed to say goodbye to their predecessors, having need to go home for dinner with their respective families. When they were gone, the adults retired once again to the living room, having much to discuss amongst themselves.

"So, how were your talks, guys?" Tommy finally asked, once everyone was settled in.

"Kira was completely oblivious. I let her know my 'observations' about Conner, and while she's finally starting to understand, she's still a little in turmoil… especially after hearing that last thing Conner said to Jason." Trini turned to look at Jason, knowing he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Well, Jason? What's going on with Conner?" Billy inquired. While not completely interested in the semantics and interactions of relationships, he felt it was necessary to at least listen and learn, in case he ever needed to know any of this.

"Well, let me tell you the story from the beginning…"

* * *

_Flashback to Jason's conversation with Conner_

_Once Trini and Kira had left the kitchen through the back door, Conner and Jason retired to the living room to have a talk of their own. Jason took the recliner and Conner spread out on the couch, unsure of what the elder Red's intentions were. After a couple of minutes of uncomfortable silence, Jason finally spoke up, "You like her, huh?"_

_Conner's eyes and voice betrayed his response, "I have no idea what you're talking about Mr. Scott."_

_Jason simply laughed at this, not having realized he intimidated the poor boy so much. "Please, call me Jason. After all, we're all family here, right?"_

_Conner only slightly relaxed at this. "Okay then Mr., uh… Jason."_

"_Good, now that that's out of the way, I'll say it once again: you like her. No trying to deny it, either. I may not be good at reading people the way Trini is, but you're just too obvious. I shouldn't be too surprised, though, since you are a Red, same as I am."_

_Conner sighed, knowing he couldn't dodge the accusation. "It doesn't matter. Kira likes Trent, and until such a time that Trent tells her how he really feels, she would never give me the time of day. Besides, I'm dating Krista, and I'd like to give that a chance. If nothing else, it helps to try to get my mind off of Kira."_

"_So, tell me about this Krista, then." Jason was now thoroughly intrigued, since it's unusual for a Red to simply give up on his feelings like that._

"_Well, it's obvious by now that she wasn't my first choice, but since that choice is currently unavailable… Krista's not a bad choice, though. Don't get me wrong. She's nice enough, is environmentally conscious. We started going out shortly after an incident involving this old tree on the school grounds. Apparently it was planted on some sort of life spring, or something like that, and because of its properties was a target for one of Mesogog's generals. Zeltrax stole the tree and Krista along with it. There was a battle, and I was the only one there. She was in danger, and I was able to tap into the Triassic Ranger powers without Ethan or Kira's help. I still couldn't save her, and Zeltrax dropped her off a cliff. That pushed me over the edge and I was able to access the Triassic Battlizer, which allowed me to catch her, thus saving her life…" Conner trailed off a bit there to gather his thoughts before continuing, "I used to think it was my feelings for Krista that helped me access that power, but now I'm not so sure. I guess that couldn't have been strong enough, since even I know my feelings for her don't currently run that deep. I really just didn't want anyone who was innocent to get hurt, and Krista personified that at the time. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it led to her getting captured. I couldn't let her get hurt, so I just let myself go and was able to tap into the power I needed to."_

_Jason absorbed this all, having heard most of it from Tommy earlier, and was just integrating the parts that only Conner was able to tell. Conner's phone began ringing at this point, and Conner dug it out of his pocket, reading the ID, "It's Krista," he simply stated before flipping the phone open. "Hello, this is Conner… oh, uh, I'm sorry, I'd love to hang out today, but there's a, uh, family function that I need to attend all day… yeah, a bunch of my cousins just showed up, and they wanted me along. I haven't seen them in forever, so I figured I'd just spend the day with them, talking and catching up… sure thing, thanks for understanding. See you tomorrow." Conner flipped his phone closed and turned back to Jason. Seeing the expression on his face, Conner answered the unasked question, "Well, we are family, right? And besides, I haven't had the chance to spend time with Kira and Ethan at all since school let out, and it'll be nice to get some time with my friends, plus I'm sure you guys wanted to tell us stories about you glory days, as well as hear some from us."_

"_Right you are," Jason simply said. A few moments passed, before Jason finally said, "So why do you keep this up? If you are able to acknowledge that your feelings for Krista don't run nearly as deep as they do for Kira, why can't you break things off with the one and profess your feelings to the other?"_

"_As much as I care for Kira, I care more about our friendship, which is hard enough to keep without us all having powers in common. As much as I hate to admit it, if Kira can find happiness with Trent, my feelings don't matter. I just want to see her happy."_

_Jason nodded in understanding, and mere moments later, Kira and Trini entered the living room, apparently having finished their own private talk.

* * *

_

"So that's how it is? He even refused a date with Krista to spend time with all of us?" Tommy asked. "I knew he respected his friends and fellow Rangers, but I didn't expect to this degree."

"Well, it's as he says, he doesn't care for Krista at nearly the same level as the others. He's only trying to keep himself occupied until such a time as he can express his true feelings." Trini replied his question.

"Well I'm impressed with him. His attitude goes far beyond what normal seventeen year olds would express, and I think he learned more in eight and a half months as a Ranger than Tommy did in almost four years as one." Jason joked at the expense of his friend.

"Hey! If that's how you feel, then maybe I'll just take all credit for his growth as a human being. He just took over where I left off all those years ago." Tommy tried to salvage the situation as best as possible, but when he saw all three of his friends stifling their laughter at the same time, he simply hung his head in defeat.

Billy brought the conversation back to the task at hand, "Let us just give these kids some time to sort this whole thing out. Ethan is taking the situation in stride, having acknowledged the triangle for what it is. All three of them have confided in him from one time or another, and he knows it is only a matter of time before the whole thing is resolved. He has confidence in Conner's ability to be persistent at it when the time comes, and has informed me that he has also watched as Conner's other half of his personality has slowly crept out, likely in an effort to see if it will help preserve his friendship with him and Kira."

"So Ethan's noticed it too?" Tommy quipped. Ever since the final battle, Conner has behaved less like himself, seemingly trying to impress the others and keep their friendships. "He should know by now that you can't just give up on a friendship like that. They've all changed so much, and have grown close enough together that it would take a nuclear explosion to break them apart."

The conversation drifted from this point, and the old friends continued laughing and having a good time deep into the night. Progress had been made, and all that's left is to wait for the next stage to begin. Conner was staying vigilant about whatever triggered his power, Kira started trying to observe her friends behavior for further signs of what Trini was telling her, and Ethan continued to be there for all of them. They didn't have long to wait for Trent, though, as he was back in Reefside by the following Monday.


	4. The Return of Trent

**Author's Notes**:Another special thank you to those of you who have read and reviewed my story. _OrianPrime92_: I'm glad you approve of my choice of my choice of surprise character. You'll be happy to know he gets another nice important part towards the end of this chapter. _Ghostwriter_: I'm glad you're enjoying it. _YellowPrincess_: They aren't quite as perceptive as I've made them out to be. Well, Trini is, but she didn't have enough time to come up with all that. Tommy fed them with a bunch of extra info from the point where they arrived. It's almost entirely his scheme, yet neither Trini nor Jason can help but play Matchmaker, so that's what they're going to do! _NightWatcher666_: Most definitely. Although a surprise is in store later in this chapter. Can you guess what it is?

Real notes now! Lots of different things are going on in this one. Trent's return brings quite a mix of emotions, and we not only learn about what's been going on recently throughout Reefside, but we wind up learning why as well. This chapter merges part of my original Chapter 3 concept with plenty of new material. I hope everyone enjoys this monster of a chapter. It wound up being a little longer than the last one, despite having much more varied topicality.

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban. Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. I only own the story and the words.

* * *

Conner heaved a sigh of discontentment. "I just don't get it. She didn't used to be this way. Now it's all I can do to see you guys for breakfast every morning."

"I can't really blame her, though," Ethan said in reply from his position across the table from Conner in Hayley's Cyberspace. "She's probably feeling a little insecure due to how close you are to me and Kira. Especially Kira."

Kira looked up from her notebook, glaring at Ethan. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what I said. It adds to her insecurity, you being such a close friend to Conner. Considering who he is, being able to have a really close friend that's a girl but not his girlfriend is a rather strange concept. She feels a little threatened, and because he almost never hangs out with me without you there, neither of us get the chance to see him as often."

Kira looked hurt at this revelation. She closed her notebook and made to leave saying, "If that's the case, then maybe I should just go. I wouldn't want to keep you from hanging out with each other…"

Conner shot his hand out and grabbed her wrist, keeping her from leaving. "No! Don't leave. It's not your fault she's like this. I'm meeting her in the park later this morning to talk about it, anyways." Conner looked up at the clock on the wall. "In fact, I should probably get going if I want to be there on time. I'll be back later… if she doesn't force me to spend the rest of the day with her." Conner gave his friends a sad smile before standing up and walking out of the café.

* * *

Conner arrived to the lake in the park a little early, wanting to be there first since he asked her to this meeting in the first place. He sat on the bench that several months earlier Trent had asked Kira to come to when he revealed his identity as the White Ranger. It seemed a fitting enough place to go for this sort of meeting.

Krista approached the bench from the far side of where Conner was sitting. He hadn't noticed her arrival and just stood there for a number of minutes watching him. _'What is going on with him?'_ she thought to herself, _'How can he continue acting like he wants to be with me when he's that close to her all the time? And what's up with his friendship with Ethan?'_ She closed her eyes and shook her head to clear her thoughts, then sat down on the bench. "So, what's this about?"

"Morning, Krista," Conner replied, "I thought we could use a little talk. Maybe find out what it is that you seem to have against my friends."

"The only thing I have against Ethan and Kira is whatever it is that you're not telling me. You're all keeping some kind of secret, and we can't have that, not if you and I are going to have any kind of a relationship."

"What do you want me to say? The three of us met in detention last year and got to talking. We've been friends ever since. It's not that unusual."

"It is for you! Before then you'd have never even spoken to either of them. Admittedly, you'd have never spoken to me, either, but that's beside the point! What makes you stay with them all the time?"

Conner looked a little annoyed and angry at these accusations, and took a little bit of time before answering her last question. He spoke levelly and calmly, "I continue to hang out with my friends because they are good people who look a little beyond what I appear to be on the surface. Sure, Kira and I tend to argue a lot, and Ethan and I seem to constantly be making fun of each other, but it's all part of being really good friends. You would know this if you wanted to hang out with all of us from time to time."

"Conner, just hanging out isn't an activity you do with your girlfriend."

"No, it's an activity one does with his friends. That is a group you're supposed to be a part of. A friend, as well as a girlfriend."

"I don't see it that way. You three are hiding something, and you're trying to invite me in so I won't ask about it anymore. I'm telling you there can be no secrets between us. I'm not keeping any from you, and I want you to not keep any from me. If you can't do that, we're through."

Conner stood up and looked directly into her eyes, a typical indicator for people who are telling the truth. "I'm telling you that there are no secrets to hide. There is nothing going on between Ethan, Kira, and I other than the fact that we are very good friends and have been since the beginning of Junior year."

Krista stared directly back at him. "I don't believe you. If you don't tell me in the next couple of days, you'll leave me with no choice."

Conner shook his head at this and turned to walk away. He paused a few steps away, saying, "If that's how you feel, I'm not going to stop you. I can't be in a relationship with someone who doesn't trust me."

Krista stared at his retreating form, mouth agape at Conner's lack of trying to salvage their relationship. So fixated was she that she didn't even notice the strange wind and glowing green vortex which appeared at a distance behind the bench…

* * *

It was a little before Noon in the cybercafé, and the lunch crowd hadn't quite appeared yet. Not that there was many of the regulars in Reefside at this point, anyways, since most of them were still out of town on vacation now that the school year was out. Kira was still working on her newest song and Ethan was hard at work on a computer game of some sort when Conner trudged back in, taking his usual place at the table next to Kira.

"So, how'd it go?" Kira asked.

"Not so hot," Conner replied, "she's demanding to know our secret."

"Well? Did you tell her?"

"No, I didn't feel right just revealing it like that. It's not just my secret to keep you know."

Kira furrowed her brow at this. "No, but you're our leader. If one of us wanted to tell someone we cared about, we'd ask you, but it's not really your place to ask us. It's part of being a leader, you know?"

"Maybe so, but not saying anything until I ask all of you is part of being a responsible leader."

That was a new one to Kira. She hadn't thought of it like that, but he was right. Still, something about the way he was dodging Krista's question was bothering her. "Don't you trust her to keep the secret?"

"It's not that I don't trust her, Kira, it's just the way she was asking about it. She doesn't trust me, even when I am telling the truth. Even worse is that if I tell her nothing, she's intending to end it on the spot. She gave me 'a couple of days.'" Conner let out a heavy sigh. "Can we change the subject? I really don't want to think about this any more right now."

Ethan sat down at the table at this point, having long abandoned his game so he could listen to their conversation without participating. He was concerned for his friend, but secretly thrilled at his reactions, since he knew the justification behind them. Since he asked for it, Ethan was happy to oblige. "So, how about the vandalism that seems to be spreading throughout Reefside? Seems to have been happening ever since Mesogog's defeat."

Satisfied with the new direction in the dialogue, Conner gladly picked up this thread. "Yeah, what is up with that? The timing is strange, and it's especially weird considering we've never had all that big of a problem ever before."

"No, what's weirder is the type of damage. It's all property damage. Windows are getting broken, tires slashed, buildings and cars cut into with deep gashes… even some trees have been chopped in half!" Kira suddenly piped in, probably a little more excitably than was necessary. "Plus it's not local to just a single area: it's all over the city. There's been no tagging or graffiti like you'd normally have, either. No one knows who's behind any of it."

The three were silent for a moment, wondering what was going on when the door opened; the bell jingle signaling them to look up and see who walked in. To their utter surprise, there was Trent. Sudden cries emerged, ranging from just shouting his name to asking where he's been all this time. He walked back over to the table, calming them down the whole way over. He was a little surprised to find that Conner appeared to be just as concerned as the other two, but he also registered a tiny bit of anger and jealousy on his face the whole time. He smiled to himself at this, not because he was taking any pleasure from this, but from simple amusement since he knew the reasoning behind his reactions.

"Hey guys. What's up?" Trent asked.

"You tell us? Where have you been? Why haven't you been answering your phone? We've been worried!" Kira practically shouted. She had been the most concerned for him of all of them, and it was quite obvious from the tone of her voice.

"Calm down and I'll tell you." He replied, waiting for them to sit before continuing. "I've been upstate with my dad for the last week. I've enrolled in an Art Vocational School up there for my Senior year. Because of how far away it is, however, I'm going to have to move up there, so we spent the week getting acquainted with the area and getting me an apartment."

The three original Dino Thunder Rangers were silent for a moment after his big reveal. Then all at once, they all shouted, "WHAT?" The commotion caused most of the activity in the café to stop, though there were few in there other than the four former Rangers.

Trent held his hands up in front of him in surrendering fashion. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys earlier, but I really want to do this, and I didn't want to give you guys the chance to talk me out of it."

"So that's it then," Ethan said, "you're just leaving us?"

"You're breaking up our team," Conner added.

"It's not like that! I really think this will help me more than anything. I don't want to leave you all behind like this, but I can't let a chance like this pass me up. It'll help my career as an artist far more to get started now than to wait to learn this stuff in college."

A few minutes passed as they just sat there taking it all in. Finally, Conner spoke up, "Well, if this is what you want, it's not my place to stop you. It sounds like a great opportunity, and you have my complete support. You need anything, just call or email and I'll see what I can do."

"Same here," said Ethan, "it sounds like you've given this a lot of thought. You sticking around for the rest of the Summer, or are you moving up sometime sooner?"

"Sooner, actually. The end of the week is when I want to be fully moved in. I actually am starting a job next Monday, so I kinda need to get situated there this weekend." Kira had remained quiet ever since Trent had started explaining everything. Trent knew that now was the time to clear the air between them. "Hey, could you guys let me and Kira talk for a little while?"

Conner nodded and turned to Ethan. "Think you can show me that new game you've been raving about for a few days now?" They got up from the table and Ethan led him over to one of the computers along the far wall to allow them the space to talk amongst themselves.

"Kira, there's something I need to tell you… I know that ever since you first saw me, you sorta liked me, and I'll admit to being a little attracted to you at first, but I need to say that it never developed for me. I'm sorry that I led you on for so long, but I could never find a way to let you know it. I knew it would hurt you to say anything, and I didn't want to do that."

Kira voice was dangerously quiet when she responded. "And you didn't think it would hurt more to wait to tell me? All this time, I thought there could be something between us, and throughout it all, you knew there couldn't be…"

Trent tried and failed to meet her eyes. Sighing slightly, Trent replied, "I figured if I waited until I was leaving that it would soften the blow a little. I know I'm in no shape to try a long distance relationship, anyways, and even then, as I said, I gave it a chance, but circumstances prevented it from growing beyond mere friendship. I'm sorry…"

"Sorry isn't good enough, Trent!" Kira yelled. She stood up suddenly, stating, "I… I need to go. I can't stay here right now…" She didn't run out the door so much as she rather brokenly walked out the door.

Conner, who'd been keeping one eye on them the entire time (which explains part of why he was doing so badly at the game he was playing) jumped up and walked over to the table, not necessarily angrily, and said, "What did you say to her?"

"Just the truth. Go after her. She needs someone, and it's probably not a good idea for her to go crying to her mom about this."

Conner nodded and raced out the door after Kira. While his Super Speed didn't kick in, he was easily able to catch up to her since she wasn't running. When he caught up with her, he could see the distress on her face. She wasn't just holding back a few tears. No, it was more like she was holding back a waterfall. He knew she would never allow herself to cry in public like that, so he had to convince her to go somewhere she could let it all out. Fortunately, he knew just the place. He took her hand, and she allowed herself to be steered back to Conner's car. Not saying a word on where he was taking her, he sped out of town to the south of Reefside, stopping along the highway at a rocky outcropping overlooking the ocean. He went around the car and let her out, leading her down to a shaded plateau.

"It's alright now. We're alone now and there's no one else here but us. You can let it all out and no one will hear it."

Kira turned to him and started beating on his chest with her fists, feeling the need to first vent her anger. "Why? Why did he do that? Why couldn't he have just told me? Then I wouldn't have had so much hope for us." Conner simply let her beat on him, knowing she needed this release. After a few more minutes of her venting, she started sobbing. She collapsed to the ground and Conner crouched down to catch her. She leaned into his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her, rubbing small circles on her back and making soothing noises at her (or the closest thing to soothing noises he could do, as he'd never actually done this before for anyone).

After awhile, she calmed down, and Conner wondered if she had managed to cry herself to sleep. His wondering was answered when she leaned back and sat down on the rock. She was silently staring out at the ocean for several minutes before finally asking, "Why did you do that?"

He turned to her, looking on her in slight confusion, "Why did I do what?"

"Why did you bring me here? Why did you let me hit you like that?"

"Oh, um… well, part of the reason was that we couldn't let you break down at home like that. Since we don't know what's triggering our powers, or even if yours would trigger, we couldn't take the chance that you wouldn't accidentally Ptera Scream your mother."

Kira nodded at this, though she was slightly amazed that Conner could have the forethought to realize that could happen. Part of what he said dawned on her, and she felt the need to ask, "And what was the other part?"

Conner took a moment to compose himself. "I wanted you to realize that you can come to me if you have any problems."

The words sunk into Kira's brain for a few seconds, after which she simply replied, "Oh." She stared out at the tide, somewhat mesmerized, before another thought nagged at her. "This is quite a place. You bring a lot of girls out here?"

Conner laughed at this. He'd wondered how long it would take her to ask a question like that. "None. You're the first person I've ever brought here. I usually come here when I need to think without any distractions. It's peaceful here; almost serene. Whenever I have a problem I need to work out, or just thoughts I want to sort out, I come here."

"How did you find this place?"

Conner thought back. It wasn't exactly a happy memory, but it's much less painful now than it used to be. "About four years ago, my parents were having some marital problems, and they started a trial separation. That's when my dad moved down to Blue Bay Harbor. Two years ago, they decided to finalize it. I was a little devastated, since I had been holding out hope for those last two years that we could be a family again. I was so hurt and angry that I took the car and started driving, despite the fact that I only had my Learners Permit at that time. I don't remember much about the drive anymore, but I wound up here. I stopped because… I don't actually know why, but I stopped and got out of the car. I just sat here and watched the waves for a few hours."

Kira stared at her former leader, eyes alight in wonderment. She had no idea he'd ever had such issues before. She knew his parents were divorced, but had never heard the story told before. It suddenly occurred to Kira in that moment that Conner's personality was much deeper than anyone else had ever realized.

"Shall we head back?" Conner's words shook her for a moment, having been deep in thought herself. "They'll be wondering what happened to us, and I don't know how long it's been since we ran out on them. Think you can handle hanging out with Trent the rest of the day?"

Kira nodded to him. "Yeah, I'll be fine. It was just jarring, you know? It's the last thing I expected to happen today." Conner stood up and held his hand out to her, which she accepted before standing up herself. "Thank you."

"For?" Conner genuinely wasn't sure what she meant, and she could see it in his eyes.

"Everything. For looking out for me, even when I acted like I didn't need it. For being my best friend."

Conner smiled at this. Not the cocky McKnight grin that he usually adopted, but a fully genuine smile. Her words had warmed his heart, so he couldn't help but to smile back at her. "Let's go before they start worrying." He helped her back up the rocky path and into the car before turning it around and speeding back into the city.

* * *

Back in the cybercafé, Ethan and Trent were having a quiet conversation with each other. Trent was divulging further details about his trip and the arrangements his dad had made for him, and Ethan was talking all about everything that's been happening since break had begun, from the occurrences of vandalism, to Conner's power activating, to the visit with the former Rangers. Trent especially enjoyed hearing about Dr. Oliver's 'greeting' for Jason. He promised himself he'd poke fun at him about that the next time he saw him.

Conner and Kira walked in about an hour after they'd left, Kira looking much better than she had before. They took seats at their regular table. Trent eyed her warily, prepared to leave if she asked him to. She saw this, however, and just smiled back at him, saying, "It's okay. I understand why you did it. I was just upset and needed some air. I know now that it wouldn't have worked out for us, anyways, what with you moving away for a year."

Trent nodded at this. "Thank you for understanding. Now I'm getting a little hungry, and you guys probably are, too, so why don't we go pick up some lunch somewhere and head out to the park to relax. I'm not going to start packing until tomorrow, so I'm free for the rest of the day."

They all agreed and left the establishment, piling into Conner's vehicle, heading out to relax and have fun. Hayley watched them leaving, smiling the whole way. She was happy to see them able to work things out and remain friends. She went back to work satisfied that everything was finally going right for a change.

* * *

Several hours later, having eaten lunch and taken time to relax in the park, the four friends were fooling around as teenagers tend to do, when Trent noticed something odd out of the corner of his eye. He pointed out to the parking lot, stating, "Conner, what happened to your car?"

Conner's head shot up to look toward where his precious vehicle was supposed to be parked. Sure enough, even at this distance, he could still see that something had happened to it, though the extent of the damage was not evident from where he was standing. Conner dropped everything and started running for his car, the other three running after him. Suddenly, Conner turned into a red blur which was moving well faster than Conner would normally be capable. The blur circled the car several times, apparently inspecting the damage, before the others managed to catch up.

The damage was extensive. All of the windows and windshields were smashed in and the tires were slashed. Deep gashes were cut into the sides of the vehicle. At this point Conner was standing there seething. He knew it could happen at any time, he was just mostly hoping it wouldn't happen.

Seeing his condition, Kira placed her hand on his shoulder blade. To the surprise of the others, Conner seemed to relax almost immediately. He sighed and shook his head. "I wish I knew who was doing this. Guess there's nothing left to do but get it towed home."

"You know, your powers kicked in again. Think you know why that happened?" Ethan asked.

Conner shrugged. "I don't really know. I was really, really angry as I was running. I suppose that's something to report… Hey, why am I the only one of us to trigger a power so far?"

"That's a good question. Let's get back to my car and we'll go see Doctor Oliver. Maybe he'll have an answer for us." Trent decided. They followed him back to where he parked nearby the cybercafé.

It was early evening by the time they arrived at the house in the woods. The three original Dino Thunder Rangers immediately recognized Jason's car parked next to Tommy's jeep and were excited that they would get the chance to speak with the original Rangers again. Exiting the vehicle, they made their way up to his front door and knocked on it expectantly.

Tommy answered the door the same as he did last time, but looked much more pleased than annoyed. Looking them over, he simply said, "Oh, Trent's back."

The other three stood there, mouths agape at this. Was that really all he was going to say? Conner decided to ignore this and present his own issue. "So, powers kicked in again. The only thing I can say is that I was super angry at the time when it happened."

"What made you angry?"

"My car was vandalized." Tommy winced at this. He knew how much Conner loved that car; so much so that he refused to let anyone else drive it.

Jason, Trini, and Billy had joined the others on the porch by this time. Jason looked out towards Trent's car and saw something out of the ordinary. Pointing towards it, he asked, "What is that?"

Following his index finger, everyone looked and saw… a Tyrannodrone? It looked like it was about to attack Trent's car, which seemed to answer the question of what was causing the vandalism all over Reefside. Conner was furious at this point. Before he even realized what he was doing, Conner Super Sped up to the rogue foot soldier and utterly destroyed it, breaking it apart piece by piece. By the time all the others reached the car, there was a pile of Tyrannodrone next to a sitting Conner, looking thoroughly winded from the experience. Trent looked down on his friend in wonderment. He asked, "You okay, man?"

"I just… it made me so mad that it was about to do to your car what it did to mine… I couldn't let it do that." As soon as this was said, the Gem around Conner's neck began glowing brightly. Everyone looked on amazedly at this, not knowing the cause for this sudden happening. Trent extended his hand and Conner accepted it, lifting himself off the ground. He grasped at the now apparently active pendant, losing himself in thought on the implications of this development. He looked at Tommy and asked, "Do you think this means it's at full power?"

Tommy shook his head. "I don't know, and I wouldn't test it until we knew for sure…" Anything more that he wanted to say was interrupted by the sudden arrival of twenty more Tyrannodrones from the surrounding forest. The others formed a circle around Conner, realizing that his Gem glowing was apparently the trigger for this attack, and they were unwilling to let them get to him if that were the case.

"I don't think we're going to get that chance, Doctor O." Conner lifted his left wrist and gave the command that he never thought he'd have to give ever again. "Ready." This hadn't worked to reveal his morpher since the Gem's power faded, but he figured it was worth a shot at this point. Fortunately, it worked, and the Red Tyranno Morpher appeared where his bracelet once was. He extended his left arm and reached out with his right hand to open the mouth of the Tyranno. He brought both hands back to the right side of his head, crossing the left wrist in front of the right one and forming his right hand into a claw formation. "Dino Thunder." His left arm crossed back to his left side, held back as if he were to throw a punch, while his right arm was thrust forward, palm outward. "Power Up." Finally, he brought his right hand back to touch the button on the morpher while shouting out "Hah!", causing the mouth of the Tyranno to close and his entire body to glow brightly with power. A moment later, the Red Dino Thunder Ranger was standing in the midst of the former Rangers and the opposing Tyrannodrones.

"Conner…" Was all that was said. This coming from Kira, and it seemed to signal the start of the battle, as the 'drones charged at this point. Now Tyrannodrones were never very coordinated to begin with, but these appeared even less so. This was of course a distinct advantage when only one defender was an actual Ranger, though none of the others had any difficulties with defending themselves. In a matter of minutes, the 'drones were dispatched and everyone was gathered around Conner once more. Conner powered down and looked once more at Dino Gem around his neck. It no longer glowed, but Conner could feel the power once more flowing through him as it did from the moment he first picked it up. His attention was cut off by two new glows, one in bright yellow and one in bright blue. Everyone turned to Kira and Ethan, where their Gems were now glowing as Conner's once was. Moments after they started, the Gems dimmed, and like Conner, they too felt the power flowing through them once again.

"As fun as this was, I need some answers. You three, basement. Now." Tommy said. Everyone followed Tommy back into his house and down to his somewhat cleaner basement. "Now I know your transformation is completely different than before, since the computer is no longer networked to your morphers, therefore I have no idea how you managed to access the suit. It shouldn't have been possible, but still, it happened anyways…"

Billy, who had more knowledge on morphing and morphing devices than just about any human that ever existed decided to field this question. "When you linked the Gems to the morphers, what did you use to handle the transformation of the combination of the energy and the person into the suits?"

"I managed a link to the Universal Morphing Grid, though only enough to handle the transformation. Since the Gems were a source of power, I figured that only having a marginal link to handle the actual morph would be better."

Billy crossed his way over to the computer and began inputting some data into it. A result came up which seemed to satisfy his curiosity. "As I suspected, the three main Dino Gems have linked themselves fully to the Morphing Grid. Actually, all of the Gems have, but for some reason, the Black and White Gems are refusing to recharge fully. As such, they do not even have enough power to activate the Invisibility or Chameleon Powers."

"Why didn't the other two Gems recharge?" Ethan asked.

Both Tommy and Trent had somewhat guilty looks on their faces at this point. Conner frowned at this. "You both know exactly why, don't you?" He asked.

Trent spoke up first. "I just don't want to be a Ranger anymore. I'm moving away from this place, and I won't be able to come back whenever this place gets attacked. I just can't do it."

"My reasons are different. I've been doing this for too long. I'm not getting any younger, and it's really no longer my place to protect the Earth anymore. Other Ranger teams have formed while I wasn't active, and more will form in the future, so long as there are sources of evil." Tommy kept his voice steady to make sure none of them would mistake his intentions.

Jason leaned over to his wife and whispered, "Plus a certain someone would kill him if he suited up again." Trini softly giggled in agreement.

Conner stared at his former teammates for several minutes, the others focusing on him. Finally, he heaved a sigh and said, "This is your choice. I can't force you to do this again if you don't want to. I remember being given the choice back when this all started, and I would be a hypocrite if I didn't extend the same offer back when the opportunity presents."

They both nodded in appreciation. Any more conversation was cut off when Conner's cell phone started ringing. He looked at the ID and opened it up to answer. "Hello?"

"_Conner? This is Krista's mother. Have you seen her at all today?"_

"Yeah, this morning. I met her in the park. I haven't seen her since then."

"_She never came home for dinner tonight and hasn't been answering her cell. We were hoping she was with you. If you see her, could you have her come home, or at least call us and let us know what she's doing?"_

"Sure, I'll be on the lookout for her."

"_Thank you. Good night, Conner."_

"Good night, ma'am."

Conner closed his phone, his face etched with worry. Seeing this Kira asked, "What's going on, Conner?"

"After our talk in the park, Krista apparently never made it home. This is completely unlike her, so I don't know what to call it. Could I ask you guys to keep an eye out for her? Even if she doesn't trust me enough to want to keep our relationship, I'd hate to see anything happen to her. You never know what can happen, now that we know there are Tyrannodrones roaming the city destroying things at random."

Tommy shook his head at this announcement. "It's getting late. There'll be no searching tonight. You should all get home and get some sleep. You can all come back tomorrow and we can start a search from here."

The teenagers all filed out of the basement and got in Trent's car. As they left, Tommy turned back to his houseguests. "Here we go again…"


	5. Just another day in Reefside

**Author's Notes**:I apologize for the lateness of getting this chapter out. Distractions abound, not to mention slight writer's block (if you can call it that… other ideas keep popping up for stories I'm not even writing yet! They are taking over the creative portion of my brain!). Anyways, thanks to all my reviewers and those of you who are anonymously reading my work! _fanficrulez_: Tommy can escape the power, he just can't escape helping the power. _Ghostwriter_: Yes, I had to write Trent out of the story, at least, since there was something canon-wise that needed to be included which precludes him from participating. I'm not inventing teleportation to allow it, plus not getting either of them back leaves room for other ideas that I've had. _Kamen Rider Lynx_: You have no idea how slowly this is going to play out. It may seem as though there should be no problems rushing it, but quite frankly, Conner's a coward and Kira's still confused, so it should all equal hilarity one day. _OrianPrime92_: Don't we, though? ^_^ _DarkBlue86_: Sorry I made you wait this long! I found myself not doing anything productive for most of the last two weeks… _NightWatcher666_: Past? Well, maybe… _YellowPrincess_: You won't have to wait too long. The question is actually learning what happened to her! _Dark Yellow Dino_: I intend to keep going, I just need to stick to task more often!

Okay, real notes. Once again, I apologize for the wait. I found myself with the freedom to do other things after work all of a sudden (My brother got a job! Now the TV is free and I can actually use the PS2!), and also being stupidly tired this last week for no apparent reason. Anyways, I gave Angela a last name. It's the one I was thinking of before. I should retcon that back to Chapter 2, or something… As for the other things that are happening, well… just read up and try to fit this puzzle together. I got a bunch of inspiration from other stories and the Japanese version of Dino Thunder (_Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger_, which I highly recommend finding it subbed somewhere out there and watching. I spent my week/end a couple of weeks ago watching the whole thing. It really gives excellent insight into the American series). I hope you all enjoy this chapter. It's a little shorter than the last couple have been.

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban. Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the Time. I only own the story and the words.

* * *

None of them knew what the day was going to bring them. Their powers had been restored, there were Tyrannodrones causing havoc at random throughout Reefside, and to top it off, Krista appeared to be missing. They met early that morning at Hayley's to pick up a quick breakfast and were preparing to leave when Ethan's girlfriend, Angela Landen, showed up and sat at their table with them.

"Hey, what's up guys?" Angela said as she sat down.

"Not much, we were actually on our way out." Ethan replied. "Doctor Oliver offered us an extension of that job we had last year, and we figured we'd accept it."

"Oh…" Angela looked to each of them in turn, then nodded as if she had come to a decision. She leaned forward and whispered, "So you're Rangers again, huh?"

Now there's only really one way to answer that kind of question if you really aren't Rangers. How they answered was not that way. Conner just kind of paled and Kira's mouth hung open; Ethan chose to try and talk her away from that by saying, "R… Rangers? Us? What makes you think we're Rangers?"

Ethan failed.

"Thanks for the confirmation. I wasn't completely sure, but your responses kind of proved it for me. Now why don't I take you guys up to Dr. Oliver's house and you can fill me in on the way." She took Ethan's hand and ushered them to her car. On the drive up, she had them fill her in on most of the details from the last year as well as what's going on since the school year finished up. Upon hearing the news about Krista, she noted that Conner's concern for her appeared to be less than one would expect from a boyfriend. She filed this little bit of information away for later.

Just as the last two trips up, they stepped up to the front door and allowed Conner to knock, and once again Tommy answered it. This time, he was expecting them… well, almost. He frowned when he saw Angela was with them. It was all Ethan could do when he saw that to say, "She knows." Tommy shook his head motioned for them to follow him into the house.

Angela's eyes widened as she took in the features of the Lab. It was obviously the first time she'd ever been in anything close to the Ranger Hideout, and she intended to learn as much as she could.

"Angela Landen," Tommy started, "I'm not going to ask how you learned about us. I just need one thing from you: everything you see in here, everything you hear in here is to be kept secret. Can I trust you to keep this secret?"

Angela nodded at this. "Yes, you have my word. From what I can see, it would only hurt you guys for this to get out. I would never want to do anything to compromise the safety of Reefside."

"Good. Now you should know who you can trust between all of us before we go on. You of course know about those three," Tommy pointed over to Conner, Kira, and Ethan, "and myself. In addition to us, Trent Fernendez was once a Ranger, though like me he is now retired. Hayley is one of us; she's usually helping with the computers and is our go-to person whenever anything needs to be fixed. Finally there's Trent's dad, Anton Mercer, and Principal Elizabeth Randall." The look on Angela's face went from confused to surprised, as she'd heard the cover story that Randall was replaced by Elsa and had no knowledge of what had happened to her. "Mercer turned into our villain, Mesogog, due to an accident in the lab. A side effect of an experiment that he didn't feel it was safe to entrust to anyone else. Randall, as it turns out, really was captured by Mesogog, but he forced her to become one of his Generals through an influx of evil energy. She was able to become the principal of Reefside High via a disguise. After every school day, she would shift back into Elsa and return to Mesogog to perform whatever missions he wanted her to do that day. They both retained all of their memories from when they were evil, but they themselves are no longer evil."

Angela simply absorbed all of this. She pointed at the computer and said, "I guess now that introductions are over, maybe you should show me how to work your computer. I'd like to help you guys if at all possible."

Tommy gave this a little thought. _'It would really help to have another person who could man the computers, plus it would allow me to take some actual time off at some point…'_ Tommy nodded and motioned her to approach the computer. "Why not? Let me show you how to run a scan of the city…"

The three Rangers milled about as the other two were working on checking over the area for any signs of attacks or Krista. A few minutes later, the alarm went off. Tommy took over the computers controls and pinpointed the source of the alarm. "Looks like a real attack has started. About fifteen 'drones just appeared downtown, and they're attacking as a group. Suit up and take the Raptors; the cycles are still trashed from Zeltrax's attack."

"Right." The three took up their familiar formation and proceeded to perform the motions required to morph. "Ready. Dino Thunder! Power Up! Hah!" Angela watched it in wonder, as this was the first time she'd ever witnessed a morphing sequence. She had always wondered how the Rangers did it, but this was nothing like her wildest imaginings. They headed for the Raptor Pen and sped off on the robotic dinosaurs. Angela turned back to the screen to observe the fight.

"Good luck, guys."

* * *

They arrived on the scene to find the 'drones terrorizing the populous. It was actually a little unusual, as they didn't used to do something like that. Used to be they'd just show up during a fight already in progress, so this was rather different. The Rangers jumped off of the Raptors and charged into battle. The fact that these 'drones appeared to be inferior to the ones they used to find was not lost on the teens, as they made very short work of them. Conner had barely beat the last of them when an invisiportal opened and sucked the defeated 'drones away and deposited ten more, along with… a girl?

She appeared wearing black leather and wielded a sword. All in all, she was very Elsa-like, and this comparison was not lost on the Rangers. They charged into battle once again, Kira and Ethan splitting the 'drones between themselves and Conner taking the newcomer. He drew his Thundermax Saber and parried several of her blows. Growling, he asked, "Who the heck are you?"

She smiled back at him and continued her attacks. Finally, she said, "I am called Cryz. I have been sent by my master to eliminate you and secure this city."

Conner burned with anger at these words. "That's not gonna happen!" He shouted as he kicked her out of her attack and slashed back at her. Kira and Ethan had dispatched their opponents by this point and had started closing in on this 'Cryz' person. Conner added, "Who is this master of yours?"

Scowling, Cryz replied, "You are not fit to speak my master's name. You win for now, Rangers, but the day isn't over. Farewell…" She reached skyward and was sucked into the newly opened Invisiportal along with the damaged 'drones.

Ethan scoffed, "Like we've never heard that one before."

"Seriously," Kira added, "did she steal her lines from Zeltrax, or what?"

"Come on, guys, let's head back and see if Doctor O. has learned anything." Conner commanded. They climbed back onto their Raptors and raced back to the Lab.

* * *

"Well, this is just some déjà vu, isn't it?" Conner questioned as they arrived in the lab. The three hopped off of the raptors and tried to direct them back into the pen, but they wouldn't move for some reason. Rather, they started examining the lab, appearing to familiarize themselves with the place.

Tommy watched them, puzzling over this change in behavior. "This shouldn't be happening. I programmed them to follow your orders…" Tommy said.

"It's like they're suddenly sentient…" Conner remarked. Everyone just kinda looked at Conner. His Red Raptor turned back to him and made a soft screeching noise not entirely unlike the louder cry that it makes when charging into battle. It startled everyone but Conner, who expected a reaction in case he'd been right. He walked forward and raised his hand up, placing on the side of his Raptor's neck. The Raptor responded with a noise that, had they not known what type of animal this was, they could've sworn was purring. The other two Rangers stepped up to their Raptor Riders and did the same, eliciting the same response.

Angela had turned back to the computer and found a method to analyze the Raptors. The program compiled a quick set of results, which seemed to confirm her suspicions. "That's what I thought," Angela said. Everyone turned back to her and saw the analysis on the screen. "There's an energy signature surrounding the Raptors that matches the power in the Dino Gems. It seems the Morphing Grid has more tricks up its sleeve. The Raptors are now fully sentient, as if they were actually from millions of years ago. They appear to have retained their original intelligence and memories of the last year, though."

"This is all quite fascinating," Tommy said, turning back towards the Rangers. "First off, how do you three feel?"

They pondered this for a moment before Ethan spoke up. "Not bad, actually. Usually I feel a little winded after a skirmish like that."

"That's the power of the Morphing Grid for you. Back in the day, we could have a few rounds of mass produced minions before even starting to feel it. Of course we also tended to have several smaller battles in a row in the same day rather than the single bigger battles you guys are used to dealing with…

"That's beside the point, though. We have some work to do." Tommy threw the keys to his jeep towards Kira. "You three go let Hayley know what's going on. Her uplink to the computer here was fried when Zeltrax trashed this place, so she doesn't know what's going on. Angela is going to stay here and learn a little Ranger history while I do some thorough tests on the Raptor Riders." The Rangers nodded and powered down, heading out through the house. Tommy smiled upon hearing Conner complaining about letting Kira drive.

* * *

Conner was quickly subdued by Kira before even getting into the jeep. The trip back to the café was quiet and uneventful. Once they arrived however, none of them were quite ready for what they were running into.

"Krista?" Conner asked. She was standing up at the counter, ordering a drink from Hayley's new employee.

She turned to face him, her expression one of annoyance. "Hello Conner. Still hanging out with _them_ I see."

"Of course I am. They're my friends. You're always welcome to join us… Anyways, where have you been? Your mom called me last night and said you never went home?"

"Oh, I got home last night. Must've been just after she called. Have you reconsidered?"

Conner sighed. Even if it was a lie, it was a necessary one. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you, there's no secret. There's nothing to tell. We aren't hiding anything from anybody."

"Then this is it, Conner. We're done. You obviously don't trust me with whatever is going on, so I want nothing more to do with you." She turned back and paid for her drink before walking towards where a group of her friends were seated.

Conner shook his head at the spectacle and walked up to the counter. He smiled weakly at the new attendant and asked, "Is Hayley in?"

The new girl gazed at the three before recognizing the descriptions she had been given. Indicating to the office behind the counter, she said, "She's in the back. Go on ahead, I think she's expecting you for some reason…" The girl looked a little apprehensive for a second before continuing on, "So what just happened here? You two got into a fight or something?"

They were about to go around the counter when she asked this question. Conner stopped short and regarded the new worker for a moment before answering. "She's demanding to know something that doesn't exist. As such, there's nothing to tell. She _was_ my girlfriend, until a minute ago."

"Ah." Was all she said before turning her attention towards the group that Krista had joined. Kira noticed a look flash across her face before she returned to working the counter. She filed that away for later inspection before following the guys into Hayley's office.

Hayley appeared to be tinkering with something under her desk when they walked in. She bumped her head when the door opened and swore softly, saying, "I thought I told you to knock first, Jen…" She got up off the floor and saw that rather than her new employee, were three somewhat amused superheroes. "Oh, it's just you guys."

"What were you doing under there, Hales?" Ethan asked.

"I'm trying to reestablish my connection to the computer in the Lab. So far, it's no go. How is the outside world?"

"Oh, you know, the usual: Tyrannodrone attacks, an Elsa wannabe named Cryz, the Raptors are now sentient thanks to the Morphing Grid, and Angela apparently always knew who we were from the moment she met Ethan." Kira explained.

"Ah… wait, WHAT?"

The three retold the events of the morning in as much detail as they could. After about half an hour, Hayley was simply sitting at her desk, absorbing as much of everything as she could. Before she had the opportunity to ask any additional questions, their bracelets chimed. Casting a look towards his teammates, Conner raised his bracelet up and spoke into it, "We're all here, go ahead."

"_Just got an alert," _Angela's voice rang through, _"looks like a monster. It's downtown right now."_

"We're on it."

"_Good luck, you guys."_

"Right, lets head out and morph on the way. You might want to get that uplink fixed, Hayley."

Conner and the others turned to head out the door. Just before they opened it, Hayley called out to them, "Be careful! We still don't know where or who these things are coming from!" They nodded back at her once again before bolting out.

* * *

"This again? Can't whoever sent this guy do something original? Mix-N-Match-A-Monster was so last villain." Kira quipped upon approaching the carnage. The monster appeared to be a cross between an elephant, a beetle, and an industrial crane. All in all, it looked quite ridiculous.

"Why be original?" Conner asked, "When you can be cheesy. Heck, that looks more like a rubber costume than a real monster…" Just as soon as the words left his lips, a grappling hook from its right arm launched and caught Kira while an energy blast from its trunk slammed into Ethan before he could block it with his Tricera Shield. "Okay, shutting my mouth now."

Ethan picked himself up and pulled his shield out, charging forward and blocking the blasts. This gave Conner time to also run forwards, Thundermax Saber drawn and cut the rope entangling Kira. She shook off the now limp thread and drew her Saber in Laser form, intending to at least get it to back off for a second. It staggered backwards, giving the three time to regroup.

Kira was none too happy about that little sneak attack. Anger laced her voice as she said, "Maybe one good blast out to due. Combine our weapons?" She asked as she pulled out her Ptera Grips.

"Let's do it." Conner agreed, pulling out his own Tyranno Staff. They assembled them together and called out as one, "Z-Rex Blaster!" Each of them called out in turn, "Ready, aim, Fire!" The energy travelled quickly as it usually does, but something completely unexpected happened. Rather than just taking it as every other monster in the past had, it jumped.

"That's not right!" Ethan cried out. "They're not allowed to jump!"

"It didn't just jump, Ethan. It's flying." Kira noticed. Sure enough, the beetle shell that made up its backside had split open and appeared to contain wings. It had turned its attention away from the Rangers now and was blasting at the buildings surrounding the battlefield, well above the reach of any attacks the Rangers currently had.

"Oh man, and me without my Hovercycle!" Ethan exclaimed.

"I've got an idea, guys. I think it's time for some Triassic Power. Shield of Triumph!" Conner called out, as he pulled the Shield out. Kira and Ethan appeared on either side of him and began siphoning their energy into the Shield. The golden armor appeared all over the Red Ranger. As this was happening, several Tyrannodrone appeared, causing the other two to have to rush straight into battle after draining a portion of their energy. Conner extended the blade on the Shield and shouted, "It's you and me now, ugly!" He jumped up and attempted to engage the monster, getting a couple of cuts in before being slammed back down. It flew back up, though not as high as it had before. Conner suddenly had an idea, and jumped once again, though he only cut once. This time, when he got slammed to the ground, the monster stayed down as well.

Kira had finished with her batch of 'drones first and ran forward, noticing that Conner had apparently been forced back out of his Triassic form. He clutched at his right shoulder as well. Taking note of this, she asked worriedly, "You alright, Conner?"

He glanced over to her in wonder, though she couldn't see that due to the helmet. "I'll be fine. I'm thinking we need to blast this guy one more time. I clipped his wings, so he's not going anywhere."

Finally joining them, Ethan added, "I'm with him. One more time, then that should be it." Once again, they called on their weapons and assembled them together. This time, the monster didn't move an inch before getting the full brunt of the blast. It collapsed and broke into many chunks. The multicolored teens also collapsed, though stayed in uniform long enough for a flash of light and dark rainclouds to appear. Before they knew what was happening, a giant-sized version of what they just fought appeared.

"Uh oh…" was all Ethan said before they heard Tommy's voice ring out from their morphers.

"_No, it's okay guys. Seems the Morphing Grid had one more surprise for us. I'm sending in Brachio by remote."_

"You mean…" was all Kira said before hearing the telltale sound of their Biozords emerging from the Brachiozord.

"All right! Come on you guys, let's get to it!" Conner shouted as he and the others jumped up and merged with their individual Biozords. Almost immediately, they combined together to form the Thundersaurus Megazord.

"This is awesome," Kira said.

"I thought we would never see these guys again." Ethan said. The emotion in his voice spoke volumes for how attached he had become to the Biozords over the last year.

"You can spend some quality time with them later. Let's take this guy down!" Conner initiated the combat, which was furious. Neither side appeared to be able to gain an advantage, until Kira got an idea similar to what Conner had earlier, and employed the Pterarang to once again clip its wings and force it to hold still for a moment. It was a long enough moment for the Tyrannodrill to put it out for good. The Rangers ejected and celebrated their victory, watching as the Megazord disengaged itself, splitting back off to the individual Biozords.

As they powered down, Conner regarded his Tyrannozord for a moment. He softly wondered, "Are you guys sentient too?"

The next thing that happened made all three of them jump. The Zords all turned around from where they were heading to return to Brachio and looked back to the now civilian Rangers. A deep but lighthearted voice rang from Conner's bracelet, "Yes, we are young human."

They stared up in disbelief, unable to comprehend how this could have happened. This time a distinctly feminine voice was heard from Kira's bracelet, "We have always been aware, but have only just recently been able to make ourselves heard."

"But don't worry," a rather childlike voice said from Ethan's bracelet, "we also know you guys have always cared about us. I've heard that some of the past teams only ever regarded their partners as machines."

The team was struck dumb for a moment, before Conner stepped forward and raised his left arm to his mouth. "It's been an honor serving with you… partner."

* * *

After the Biozords had packed back into the Brachiozord, the three teenagers made their way back to Hayley's Cyberspace and filled her in on what had just happened. They then retrieved Tommy's jeep and returned back to the Lab. Upon entering, the first thing they noticed was that the Raptors had apparently taken over the basement rather than return to their pen. This amused them somewhat, though their attempts to laugh were met by pain as they hadn't had to exert that much energy since the final battles with Mesogog.

"You three look beat." Angela observed.

Conner attempted to shrug, but winced in pain and clutched once again at his right shoulder. Tommy had witnessed the battle and was prepared with an ice pack. He handed it to Conner and rolled his sleeve up to unveil a massive bruise on the shoulder. Conner held the ice on it and said, "Both times he smashed me into the ground, he hit that shoulder. This hurts worse than anything else I've been through…"

"Let's review the video, and then I think you guys should go home and get some rest. I know it's still a little early, but whoever it is that's attacking seems to know what they're doing. It wouldn't surprise me to find us getting attacked again before this week is up." Tommy said, as he guided his Rangers over to sit in front of the computer.

They analyzed the fight from a couple of different angles and determined where some more planning would have been called for, but overall couldn't find a whole lot more that they could have done in improvement.

"So," Ethan started, "what's with the Raptors?"

"They're staying out here in the main part of the Lab from now on." At the looks of puzzlement he got from the others, he continued, "They want to interact with everyone more than just on the battlefield, plus this way they can guard the place in case he get attacked again. They feel bad that they couldn't protect it last time since they were penned up."

"Ah." Was all that was said. They along with Angela filed out of the house, still a little stiff from the battle. The swelling around Conner's bruise had gone down quite a bit, apparently aided by Ranger Healing. Angela dropped each one off at their respective houses before going home herself.

* * *

Conner trudged into his house still holding his shoulder rather stiffly. His mother was in the living room watching a news report when she saw his condition. She jumped up and ran to him, asking, "Are you alright? You look like you've been through the wringer."

He waved her off and headed past her, saying, "I'm fine. I just had a really strenuous practice today, is all. I got hit a couple of times in the shoulder by the ball, so I'm gonna put some ice on it and then get a hot shower." He continued on into the kitchen to retrieve the pack before heading upstairs to his room.

Ellen McKnight watched her son enter his room before turning around and picking up the phone. She dialed a number that she memorized just in case this seemed to happen again. "Hello, Mrs. James? This is Ellen McKnight. How would you like to meet me for lunch tomorrow? I'll be inviting Mrs. Ford as well…"


	6. The Ranger Mothers' Support Group

**Author's Notes**: I'm getting too many reviews to start naming individuals now, so please just allow me to say thank you to all of you who've been reading, reviewing, and enjoying my story thus far. This chapter is less of a plot one and more of an intermission of sorts. I had already planned on the mothers learning about it at some point, and this seemed like the best time to get that out of the way. Fortunately, I have the events of the next two chapters already lined up in my head, and I'm going to actually have a little time throughout the week at work to work on them. As for the mothers' names, I just kind of came up with them one night when I was trying to write the chapter in my head and stuck with them. Please let me know what you think of the names I came up with. I appreciate all comments and complaints, so please don't be gentle if you can help it!

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban. Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. I only own the words and the story itself. Oh, and a few first or last names, and that Jen character I made up.

* * *

Ellen McKnight sat in a secluded corner of the diner that she chose as her meeting place with the other two parents, awaiting their arrival. It was almost 12:30, which was the time she had set for this discussion. She looked up and found both women she had called the previous night walking in and approaching her. She stood up and addressed them, "Mrs. James, Mrs. Ford, thank you both for coming. I feel this is quite important…"

Mrs. James waved off Ellen, saying, "Please, call me Maxine. I'm not one for formality."

"Neither am I." Mrs. Ford said. "Just call me Lily."

"Alright Maxine, Lily; just call me Ellen, then. Please sit down…

"Let me just get right to the point: did one of your children come home last night looking as though they had just got finished running a decathlon?"

They both nodded at this. Lily spoke first, "Yes, Kira did. She hasn't come home like that since the school year ended."

"The same goes for my Ethan. He's usually not completely physically active, though I believe your son Conner has tried to get him into playing soccer some…" Maxine added. "I suppose you know why that might be, though, don't you?"

"I don't have proof," Ellen started, "but two things stand out that I can't ignore: first of all, the same day that Conner comes home like that is also the first day of the Summer that he started working part-time for that schoolteacher, Dr. Oliver, again; second of all, both of those two events correspond with the return of three of the Power Rangers."

Their eyes widened at this accusation. Lily was the first of the two to get her voice back, "You can't seriously be insinuating that our children are the…"

"It's the only explanation, Lily. I remember not long after they first showed up, Conner mentioning that he started a part-time position for Dr. Oliver, and that his co-workers were your children, Ethan and Kira. I didn't really think much of it at the time, but as the school year went forward, I started to suspect something was off. At about the same time as that White Ranger started fighting alongside the others, I remember being told about him getting another co-worker named Trent, though he didn't appear to happy about it."

"Ah, yes, Trent. I remember him," Lily replied, "my daughter was quite taken by him for quite some time. She was so happy to be working alongside him. Last I heard, though, was that he was moving somewhere… something about an art school of some type."

"Wait." Maxine said, "This fits Ellen's theory. That White Ranger didn't show up this last time. If this is all true, and with him moving away, it would make sense that no White Ranger would show up."

Ellen nodded at this statement, having already come to that conclusion. Maxine thought about this for a moment before narrowing her eyes and asking, "If you knew all of this before, why did you wait until now to tell us?"

Ellen shrugged at this before answering, "I lacked a small shred of evidence, which I managed to get last night. I saw the news report, including the footage where the Red Ranger was slammed into the ground on his shoulder twice, appearing to be in great pain. When Conner got home last night, he was holding that very same shoulder incredibly stiffly. He made up some excuse about having a really strenuous soccer practice."

"Ethan had a similar excuse, though he said Conner had convinced him to practice with him."

"Kira told us she went on a hike with the boys. I suppose that's some indication that something is wrong…"

"Not wrong, just not right, Lily. Our children feel the need to lie, likely due to the whole 'Secret Identity' thing that almost all superheroes seem to have. Very few Ranger teams have revealed themselves to the public, you know." Ellen appeared much calmer than the other two in the conversation. A few minutes passed while everyone processed the information.

Finally, Maxine spoke up, "So what do we do? Tell our children we know? Demand that they keep us in the loop and stop lying to us?"

Ellen shook her head at this. "I don't think that's such a good idea. As I said, the secret identity seems important. I think it's enough that we know and that we don't ask too invasive questions. You should probably steer your husbands away from questioning your children too much, as well."

"So we say nothing and just let them lie to us?"

Ellen seemed to think about this for a moment. Finally, she said, "Well, don't say nothing. Don't be completely convinced of their every lie. We should help them to come up with better cover stories without actually revealing what we know. Just watch out for them, you know? They've done an excellent job thus far, and I'd hate to compromise things for them. Heck, since he became a Ranger and started hanging out with Ethan and Kira, Conner has actually done better in school, plus becoming friends with them has certainly improved his personality quite a bit."

"You know, you're right," Maxine said, "Ethan certainly gets out of the house more often since last year started. Although he's still always hanging out at the Hayley's place, he at least seems to be able to relate to people better and certainly seems to be getting more physical activity than before. Heck, he got himself a girlfriend for the first time this last year! I thought he'd never find someone…"

"Kira is much the same. She still busies herself with music, but before she was always a loner. Now she has several great friends and isn't quite as bitey and sarcastic all the time. I think those three balance each other out much more than most kids would be able to."

"Yes, I agree," Ellen replied, "At the very least, a combination of each of our children's influencing each other, plus whatever lessons Dr. Oliver is apparently teaching them seems to be positively affecting them. How are you feeling since we had this little meeting?"

"I'm scared, to tell you the truth," Maxine started, "but this is certainly helping me more as we talk."

"The same for me," Lily said.

"How about we meet like this more often? A kind of a Ranger Mothers' Support Group?" Ellen suggested.

"I'd like that." Lily replied.

"Yeah, me too." Agreed Maxine. "At least this way, we can keep our sanity."

"Alright, are you both free in two weeks?" They nodded in reply. "Good, then we meet back here then. If the situation seems dire, though, don't hesitate to call. Sometimes a little extra support isn't a bad thing…"

The three of them exchanged contact information between each other and said their goodbyes, concluding the first meeting of the Ranger Mothers' Support Group.


	7. Moving Day

**Author's Notes**: Once again, thanks to all my readers and reviewers. I'm glad you all liked the Ranger Mothers' Support Group; it was one of my more ingenious ideas for this fic so far. And no, Tommy is not in trouble with the moms. They have no intention of intervening unless absolutely necessary. I'm not completely pleased with this chapter, but I had a sequence of events that I wanted to happen, and wrote it out to what I think is the best of my ability. I'm not sure what I could have done to improve it, though. I really don't like the ending, but couldn't figure out what else to say that wouldn't just be padding. This should feed into what I'm planning for the next chapter quite well, though. I'm going to be doing a slightly different style for the next chapter, so it's experimental in some ways. Oh, and I have no intention of injecting any songs or lyrics into my story. I may be a music lover, but I have no good sense when it comes to matching songs with situations, nor am I talented enough to write my own stuff.

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban. Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. I only own the story and the words. Oh, and that Jen character that isn't in this chapter.

* * *

Three days had passed since the last attack on Reefside. It was now Friday, and Trent was moving that morning. He had spent the last two days packing all of the furniture and things that he was taking, and Conner, Ethan, and Tommy had volunteered to go with Trent and his father to help him move. Because the city was still in danger, Conner and Ethan planned to morph and take their newly repaired Raptor Cycles so that should an attack occur they can quickly return.

Conner, Ethan, Kira, and Angela arrived at the Dino Lab early that morning to find both Dr. Oliver and Hayley already awake and preparing for their day. Hayley was already working on Kira's Cycle, and Dr. Oliver was waiting with directions for the boys to follow. As soon as everyone was ready, Conner and Ethan morphed and headed out, Tommy left to go to the Mercer mansion in his jeep. Angela tended the computer while Kira sat off to the side, playing her guitar quietly.

After doing some preliminary scans of the city, Angela finally turned to Kira to strike up a conversation. "So," she started, "what's up with Conner? I noticed that he honestly didn't seem all that concerned the other day when Krista disappeared. I thought they were going out?"

Kira looked up at her and gave her answer some thought before answering. "They were. Krista was at the café on Tuesday. She gave him an ultimatum, which he didn't meet, and she broke it off. He wasn't too broken up about it, though. It's almost like he wanted it to happen, just without doing it himself."

"I see. And now he's going off to help the ex move away."

Kira glared at the other girl. "It was never like that. We never got that far. I've come to terms with it, so if you'd kindly drop it…"

Angela held her hands up in front of her and shook her head. "Whatever you say. I just wanted to get my facts straight. Ethan has tried to explain what all is going on, but I figured I should hear it from more than one person. For perspective, of course."

"Ah. Well, there's not much to say. Conner now appears to be happily single, and I'm not particularly interesting in looking right now…"

At this they let a silence settle around them for awhile, then Kira went back to her notebook to jot a few lines down that this conversation brought up to her.

* * *

The trip up to Trent's new apartment was uneventful to say the least. Conner and Ethan found an out of the way place to hide the cycles, where they demorphed and walked the rest of the way to the building. They found a bench to sit and wait for the arrival of the others with the moving truck.

"Seems like a nice place." Conner commented.

Ethan studied the area around them and agreed, "Yeah it does. I can see why he picked this area to move to."

"We'll have to come visit him some time after he's settled."

They sat there for a few more minutes before Ethan finally decided to ask the question that's been burning in his mind since Tuesday. "So, when are you gonna make your move? You're both available now, you know."

Conner just shook his head at his best friend's bluntness. "Not yet, bro. You can't rush this stuff. Despite the fact that I've wanted this for a long time, if I say something now, she'll just think something is up and it'll drive her away from me. It'll happen eventually, I'm just gonna give it time."

"Sounds good to me. I just want to see my best friends happy."

They bantered back and forth for some time, generally enjoying each others' company until Trent, Dr. Mercer and Dr. Oliver showed up with the moving truck. By now it was mid-morning and they were just starting to unload the truck, laughing and having a good time. They continued working into the afternoon and stopped to eat lunch after a couple of hours. At approximately three in the afternoon, however, Conner's bracelet chimed…

"_Conner, trouble in Reefside. There's a monster attacking and Kira's in trouble."_ Angela said over the communicator.

Conner looked up at his companions with pleading eyes. Ethan nodded to him and said, "Go on, Conner. If you need any more help, just call me." Conner nodded back gratefully and rushed out of the new apartment, kicking up his super speed to get to the bikes quicker. He slowed down as he approached them and morphed, climbing onto the red cycle and sped back to Reefside.

* * *

Earlier that day, things were relatively quiet in the Lab when suddenly the alarm started blaring. Angela whirled into action, locating where the attack was taking place and what was causing it. "Looks like a swarm of 'drones downtown, causing random destruction. Should I call the guys?"

Kira scoffed at the girl. "For just 'drones? Please, this is gonna be simple."

Hayley made her presence known at this time. "You're in luck, as I just finished repairing your Raptor Cycle."

"Thanks, Hayley."

Kira morphed and sped off downtown. She hopped off and dived into the swarm of 'drones. In a matter of minutes, she took them all out without coming close to breaking a sweat. A new Invisiportal opened up and sucked the Tyrannodrones away, depositing a new monster in their place. It looked to be a cross between a snake of some type and an armadillo.

"Upping the ante, eh? Let's see how you like my Ptera Grips!" Kira rushed the monster and got a few solid hits in before being thrown back. She took minimal damage, but was still on the ground. As she attempted to rise to her feet, the monster curled into a ball and spikes protruded all around it. It rolled around gathering speed and charged the Yellow Ranger, slamming her back into the side of a building. Before getting back up, she spoke into her morpher, "Angela, I could really use some help here!"

"_Already on the way. I contacted them when the monster showed up."_

The monster was revving itself back up for another charge when all of a sudden, a voice cried out "Tyranno Staff!" The monster did not heed this call and started towards the battered Ranger. Before it could connect, however, the Red Dino Thunder Ranger was already there, holding his staff from the end, looking prepared to swing. He shouted, "Fore!" and sent the monster flying far away.

Kira stood up and looked to her rescuer, saying, "I didn't know you could play golf."

"I can't." He replied. "Did you see how bad a hooked that shot?"

They chuckled for a moment, getting their bearings before the monster was able to recover. It uncurled and made its way back to the Rangers, squaring off against them.

Conner regarded his new adversary for a moment. "Snake, Armadillo, and… what, Pineapple?"

Kira shrugged, "Who cares? Let's kill it and get out of here."

This was apparently the cue for both sides, and they both charged, The Red and Yellow Rangers working in unison, managing to keep the monster more or less unbalanced for some time. Finally, the monster got an opening and managed to bite Kira's arm. It stayed latched on for a moment before Conner managed to beat it away from her. She shook her head for a moment before getting back into a ready stance. The monster once again curled up and started rolling around to build up speed again. Conner tried to intercept it to stop it, but it was able to dodge around his advances. Kira seemed to be having a hard time keeping track of where the monster was, as such she wasn't prepared for when it charged her again. This time she was slammed hard enough to force her to demorph.

"Oh, you did not just…" Conner was furious. He ran up to the monster that was still in ball form. He gripped two of the spikes and twirled around in place, throwing it as far away as he could before turning to regard his fallen companion. Upon verifying she was still breathing, he turned back to his foe and shouted, "Super Dino Mode!" The diamond pattern on his uniform appeared to grow spikes, and his power grew exponentially. He charged the uncurling enemy and started going ballistic on it. The monster wasn't able to get an attack in through the Red Ranger's rage. Within mere moments, the monster was no more, and not even a single piece of it was left to be grown to giant size. Wordlessly, he powered down from Super Dino Mode and walked back to where Kira was still knocked out. He gently picked her up and strapped her onto his back, walking over to her Raptor Cycle and driving her back to the Dino Lab.

* * *

Darkness. Well, darkness and a splitting headache. That was the first sensation she had when she came to. The last thing she could remember was Conner arriving to help her take down the latest monster. Something about a pineapple, she thought. She groaned and opened her eyes, instantly regretting it, as it aggravated her headache even more. She sat up and looked around. She was in the Dino Lab, she realized.

Angela sensed the movement and walked over to Kira. She had a glass of water and a tablet of some kind ready and handed them to the girl. "Here," she said, "this should help with the headache. How are you feeling?"

Kira took the pill and blinked a few times before answering. "A little dizzy and queasy. What happened after I was out of it?"

"You demorphed and Conner went all berserker on it. He grabbed it by the spikes and tossed it away, went Super Dino Mode and proceeded to kick the crap out of it. There wasn't enough of it left to grow to super sized form. I was rather surprised to see him like that, though…"

Kira adopted a thoughtful expression at this. She said, "Conner's always been like that, though. He takes it personally when any of us get hurt. It makes him a little reckless, but it seems to cause him to draw on much more strength than ever before."

"Hmm… I've gone over the footage from the last year, and he's never been that enraged before, though. Are you sure it's not just you he wanted to protect?"

Kira wasn't liking the direction of this conversation, and made to try to stand up. She wobbled for a second before sitting back down again.

Angela smirked at this and told her, "That might not be a good idea. Conner says you were bitten by that monster and suggested we test your blood for any toxins. It seems you're currently being affected by a mild neurotoxin which makes you dizzy and nauseous. Apparently its purpose was to keep you off balance, rather than be lethal."

"Ah."

"Hayley is working on synthesizing an antidote, but she says it might take a couple of days. You should probably try coming up with a cover story for why you're feeling that way. In the meantime, you'll want to get plenty of rest until we can find a way to neutralize the poison."

"Yeah… sure…" Kira laid back down and decided to try to get some more sleep.

* * *

Conner made his way back up to Trent's new apartment, leaving his Cycle in the same place as last time. He used his super speed to return to the others, who had just finished getting the last of the furniture in. Once he made his presence known, they rushed up to him to ask of the battle.

"What happened? Is Kira okay?" Ethan asked.

"Kira's alright. I got there in time to help…" Conner started.

"What kind of monster was it this time?" Dr. Oliver chimed in.

"Weird, like usual. Some cross between an armadillo, a pineapple, and a snake. Unfortunately, it bit Kira. I think it injected something into her system. When I got her back to the Lab, I asked Hayley and Angela to check her blood for anything unusual."

"Good thinking." Trent said. "Well, we're done here, so why don't we go get some dinner, and you guys can head home."

"Sounds good to me, son." Dr. Mercer replied.


	8. The Color Orange

**Author's Notes**: Oh boy, this one was long in the writing. Admittedly, it's not as long as some of the chapters I've written in the last week or so, but it's the best I can do for this story. I've got only certain things I want to touch on per chapter, and some will have more meat in them than others. At the very least, I'd like to believe that I'm getting a little better as I keep writing. Unfortunately, _Binding Destinies_ has become the more fun story to write about; but as I've mentioned in the past, I've got too many ideas about this story to abandon it. It'll pick up later, I'm sure. Anyways, enjoy, and don't forget to review if you really liked it or hated it, and any comments and complaints are welcome.

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban. Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. I only own the words and the story itself.

* * *

She was bored. It was a Saturday, but because of how she felt, she was stuck in bed. Her mother looked at her funny at first when she told her excuse, but a moment later chose to believe her. Apparently blaming the dizziness on her sinuses was not uncommon, and the queasiness was easily attested to a drainage problem. Of course, that just meant that until the antidote could be synthesized, she couldn't get out of bed. As such, she was utterly and completely bored.

Kira Ford tried to get to sleep for the third time that morning when she heard a knock on her door. Frowning, she answered it. "Come in."

Of all the people she expected to walk through the door, Conner McKnight was not one of them. He took a few tentative steps into the room, having never been in there before. He looked concerned, which didn't actually come as a surprise to her, she found. In his hand was a small container.

She raised her eyebrow. "Whatcha got there, Con?"

He hesitated for a moment before walking up to her and handing her the container. "I, uh, brought you some soup. I know they haven't made that antidote yet, so you probably can't eat normal food yet." He looked around the room for a moment before placing a hand on the back of his neck, saying, "Plus, I thought you'd be bored by yourself. I figured you wouldn't mind some company."

He looked so nervous for some reason; she couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. It was kind of cute to see the normally overconfident Red Ranger seeming to not know what to do. Was it so unnerving just being in her room? "Thanks, Conner. You're right, I was bored…" She thought for a second before deciding on what to say. "How'd the move go? Is Trent's new apartment nice?"

Conner tilted his head to either side, mulling over the question. Finally, he said, "Yeah, it's pretty nice. Good neighborhood. After a few weeks, we should pay him a visit; be his first house guests." He felt like he forgot something for a moment, before shaking his head and saying, "As for the move itself, it wasn't so bad, outside of the interruption." Kira averted her eyes at this, feeling a small amount of guilt. Conner saw this and continued quickly, "It's not your fault, you know. If anything, it's mine, as I didn't get there fast enough…"

She could hear the tone of defeat in his voice. Had she not been feeling the way she had, she'd have likely jumped up to hug him while admonishing him that it wasn't his fault she got hurt. As it stood, she simply glared at him and said, "It's not your fault either, Conner. You got here as fast as you could. Whoever has taken over and started these attacks again took advantage of the fact that you and Ethan were out of town. It's certainly more than Mesogog ever did before…"

Their eyes locked momentarily and Conner sighed. Resigned to give up the guilt, he shrugged and asked, "So how are you feeling?"

She shrugged in response and said, "The same. I don't think this is going to go away on its own. I just hope it doesn't take too long. I can only take so much of doing nothing." She regarded her leader for a moment before continuing. "So what's on the agenda for today?"

"Fixing my car." That was a quick response. "I'm gonna change the tires and fix the body work today. The glass will have to be done professionally, but I can at least make it drivable."

"Body work, eh? Thinking of a new color?" He could hear the laughter in her voice. Even before becoming Rangers, each of them were drawn to their chosen colors, so the thought that suddenly Conner would start associating with a different color was pretty funny to her.

Conner, for his part, just blinked a few times at this question. He answered, "Actually… yeah, I am." Both of them adopted bewildered expressions. It was quite unheard of for a Ranger to change color associations without an actual change in their Ranger color.

Kira's mouth hung open momentarily before remembering her manners. She gave it a moment before squeaking out, "Wh… what color…?"

Another round of blinking from the leader before managing to answer, "Orange." It didn't make sense to either of them. "Actually, I've found myself needing to resist the color for the last few days, and I can't readily explain it…" There was an awkward silence between them. Kira suspected a reason behind the sudden impulse, but was frightened of the implications. It told of something much, much deeper than she had thought was possible from the soccer star. Conner cleared his throat and said, "I should probably be going… Long day of car repair, and hopefully it won't get interrupted…"

They said their goodbyes to each other and Conner excused himself from her room. She leaned back into her headboard, lost in thought at what just transpired…

* * *

The evening before, when Conner arrived back at Trent's apartment, he was troubled over several matters, not the least of which was his reaction when Kira was severely hurt by that monster. It was fortunate that they had chosen to go to dinner before returning to Reefside, as he had some things to discuss with his science teacher.

Once they arrived at the restaurant, Conner pulled Dr. Oliver aside and asked him, "Could I talk to you for a second? There are some things that I really need to talk about…"

Tommy saw the expression on his face and knew this was something serious. He replied, "Sure Conner. What's on your mind?"

He gave it some thought before determining what he wanted to start with. "I've been having disturbing… color impulses… for a few days now. I can't explain why, but when before I only obsessed over the color red, now it's changed to mostly… orange."

Tommy smiled inwardly at this. He knew it was only a matter of time. He could remember his own terrible time trying to avoid the color pink for all those years. It was easier when the two colors didn't blend so well as red and yellow did. He gripped Conner's shoulder and said, "I can't necessarily answer your questions about this; at least, not until you are ready to admit your feelings to yourself."

Conner sighed at this, figuring that answer was forthcoming. He said, "Okay, yes, I know, Doctor O. I've known for ages, but all things considered, Kira never had any reason to want anything to do with me the entire time we were Rangers last year. I couldn't pursue it because she had someone else she wanted…"

"And now, what's holding you back?"

Another sigh of resignation. "I suppose there's nothing. I just don't know what kind of reaction I'll get…"

"Are you so afraid of rejection? Are you so sure that there's nothing more between the two of you already?"

The answer was almost immediate. "Yes. At best we've been each others' best friend. Nothing more. I don't think she's capable of thinking of me as anything more…"

Tommy just shook his head, saying, "Don't be so sure of that. Give it a chance, you might just be surprised." He looked around and said, "We'd better join the others; they're probably wondering what happened to us."

* * *

A short time after Conner left Kira started feeling a little hungry, so she went and retrieved a spoon and returned to her room to attend to the soup Conner brought her. She forgot to ask if he had made it himself, or if someone else had made it for him, and as such was a little hesitant to actually start eating it at first. Finally, hunger took over and she dug into it. She was quite surprised that it was not just edible, but in fact good. If Conner prepared this, she might have to get him to cook for her more often!

Once she was finished and was quite sure she was going to keep the soup down, she made the decision to do something she hadn't done for a long time. Carefully sitting at her desk, she reached into the back of one of her drawers to pull out a thin notebook. It hadn't seen the light of day for almost a year… in fact, the last time she had written in it was the day after she first became the Yellow Ranger. She opened it and read the last entry… her initial thoughts and feelings for her situation were mostly negative, especially where her teammates were concerned. Oh, how much things change in nearly a year…

She opened her diary up to the first free page and picked up a pen from off of her desk. This was certainly going to be strange, writing in this for the first time in so long, but sometimes she needed to get her thoughts down on paper in order to sort them out.

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_How strange to start doing this again. The last time I was commenting on my Ranger teammates, and it wasn't entirely nice comments. I suppose I regret that a little, but that's first impressions for you. I know better now, though. We've all grown up so much over the last nine months since we first gained our powers. I'm certainly not the same bitter loner that I used to be. Ethan is more comfortable with people._

_And then there's Conner. I would say that he's changed the most of all of us, but the fact of the matter is that I don't believe he was really the way he acted the entire time. For years he's been the 'King of Reefside,' or 'The Golden Boy.' He was the most popular guy in just about the entire town, and was well known for his skills as a soccer player. The fact is, over time he came down from this bit of his personality and started being more humble and considerate. The thing is that I don't believe this is something that he grew into… I think it was something that was always there, he just didn't have a good reason to reveal it to anyone else._

_Things changed considerably over time. Dr. Oliver became a Ranger just like us, bonding with the Black Gem, and a short time later, a White Ranger showed up and started attacking us. We learned his identity as Trent Fernandez; someone I fell for almost as soon as I first saw him. It was… hard… to fight against him. We—no, I tried to help him as best as I could, but he wouldn't listen. He tried to run away rather than accept our help, and considering who Doctor O. is, that was quite possibly the stupidest decision he could have made._

_I wish I could say that we fixed the problem with the Gem's evil, but I can't. His father managed to overcome the transformation into Mesogog long enough to free Trent and remove the evil encoding on the Gem. Trent then made his second major mistake of his Ranger career: he didn't tell us his dad was Mesogog. We could have helped him sooner, but he made a promise to his father to keep his secret. I don't blame him for doing that, but he should have known the best chance to get him help was to tell us._

_My feelings never really went away, despite him breaking my heart multiple times since he first attacked us. It was all for nothing, though. We beat Mesogog and lost our powers, then Trent goes off to an apartment in far northern California, where he will be attending Art School for his Senior year of high school. He never had any feelings for me beyond friendship, but didn't say anything because he didn't want to hurt me. A little late for that, unfortunately… But there was a small silver lining: Conner._

_He was there for me. He took me someplace where I could vent and no one would hear. It's kind of funny, but he let me beat him up and didn't say a word. I asked him why, but his reason was halfway bogus: he didn't want me crying to my mother and accidentally activating my Ptera Scream. To be honest, though, I think he wanted to show that he could be counted on if I needed him. He's trying, but not in too obvious ways, to prove that he would like to be more than just my best friend._

_It's all a little frightening, though. He just broke up with Krista… no, that's not right. Krista just broke up with him, all over Conner not telling her about us having been, and now are once again, Rangers. He doesn't trust her, mostly because she doesn't trust him. I don't completely understand, but I also don't blame his reasoning. At the same time, I know he was only with Krista because I was holding my torch for Trent. Had I not been chasing Trent the entire time, Conner may have said something to me much earlier and never gotten himself into trouble with her._

_I wouldn't quite have this much insight had it not been for meeting my predecessor in the color Yellow. Trini Scott talked to me about things she had heard and observed about Conner, and made me start thinking about and questioning the actions of my Red Ranger. It occurs to me that he's held his own torch for a long time… I don't exactly know how I feel about this. I guess it could be worse, but still… it's Conner. I know I've said that I know he's not the person he's acted like throughout last year, but it's still difficult to wrap my head around the thought of even thinking about becoming more with him._

_I don't know. I've just reread all of my words here so far, and including all of his recent actions, including how insane he went on that last monster when I got hurt, plus how sweet he's been towards me in the last couple of weeks… I'm having a harder time of completely denying him. The more I think of it, the more I think that maybe I should just give him a chance. It's as has been told to me before: Conner's not really a bad guy, plus I now know that his own feelings are still in full swing. I'd have not known really had he not told me he's been attracted to the color Orange in the last few days. It makes sense in some ways, as back when I had it bad for Trent, I had the urge to wear and associate with White. I was able to resist it well, but I'm not sure Conner can; or will want to. Considering he knew I knew what he was talking about when I mentioned his new color infatuation…_

_Anyways, I can definitely say this has helped… I just wish that doing this would help me get over this stupid poison in my system. I can't wait for Hayley to finish that antidote. Alright, I think that's enough for tonight. My hand's getting tired. I get the feeling I'll be writing more, though; I can imagine Conner driving me to this even more over the next few months…_

* * *

Kira was satisfied with what she wrote, and felt a little better about the decision she had just made. Closing the book and opening the drawer that she got it out of, she shoved it back into the back and closed it. She dreaded getting up to get back to her bed, but it had to be done. She needed a little more sleep, and now was as good of a time to get to it as any.


	9. Reinforcements

**Author's Notes**: This chapter needed a lot more to actually write it. I couldn't think of anything to actually put into it all throughout Saturday, and honestly, most of it wrote itself after I got started. An event in this chapter was planned for, but I had no idea how I was going to implement it until I had already written it. I hope you all enjoy this, as it was somewhat fun to write. Once again, and comments or criticisms should be left in the review box.

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban. Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. I only own the words and the story. I suppose I own Cryz and whatever monsters I feel like making up, too. I never name the monster, though…

* * *

"Did they have to attack now? I haven't even had breakfast yet!" Conner shouted as he slashed at a few Tyrannodrones. The attack was a little unusual because it happened in the morning, which only happened a few times before with Mesogog. The three remaining active Rangers had gathered at the site of an ongoing random Tyrannodrone attack that morning, and they weren't the least bit happy about this.

Kira, who was happy to be back in the field after last Friday's incident, just looked at him as incredulously as she could behind her helmet and said, "Exactly when do you wake up?"

Conner turned his attention to another cluster of advancing 'drones before saying, "I plead the fifth on account that information might incriminate me."

Kira rolled her eyes and Ethan shouted, "How do you know what the fifth amendment states? You never paid attention in Government class!"

"Yeah, well," Conner grunted as he took a nasty slash across his chest, "Conner know a lot more than people think he know."

Kira shook her head and said, "Okay, we get it Conner. You're smarter than you look. Let's just take care of these guys now and we'll see about getting some breakfast, 'kay?"

They attacked the mass of 'drones with renewed vigor, which worked out well since despite the fact that these 'drone appear to work better in groups, they also appear to be of inferior quality compared to the ones they used to fight. They were down to the last few opponents when a pair of lightning bolts assailed them, colored blue and red.

Looking up from the ground where they were thrown to, they saw Cryz and a monster, her sword and a cannon on the monster's forearm raised up towards them. The Ranges stumbled back to their feet and raised their weapons in a defensive stance in case another round was headed their way. When no attack came, Conner shouted his orders. "Kira, Ethan, keep that monster busy, I'll handle Cryz."

They acknowledged him and charged their opponent while he advanced on the Elsa-lookalike. They squared off against each other, he with his Tyrannostaff and her with an odd looking blue sword. After circling each other in silence for awhile Cryz finally had had enough and leaped at the Red Ranger with a loud battle cry. Conner brought his staff up to block the attack, but she had other plans and aborted her attack in mid-jump, ducking into a roll to his side and coming up to slash at his right flank. The force of the blow sent him flying. He cried out on impact and rolled to a stop, slowing picking himself back up. She simply stood there with a smirk, saying, "This is what the Red Ranger is made of? Some leader you are. Your comrades are taking a beating, and you can't even protect innocent citizens…" She gestured over to a place not too far in the distance where the remaining Tyrannodrones that they ignored when the two new combatants entered the fray could be seen harassing a pair of teenagers.

Conner's eyes widened at the sight. It was actually less in shock that the two were being attacked, but from the fact that they appeared to be holding their own against the four remaining 'drones. Since they actually didn't appear to be in any particular danger, he turned his attention back to the monster that Kira and Ethan had engaged.

Now the Yellow and Blue Rangers weren't in complete immediate danger, but they certainly had their hands full with this one. The monster didn't have many distinctive features outside of its left arm, which appeared to have been taken from a howitzer. It was capable of firing many different things from the barrel of that gun, though it was seemingly at a disadvantage at close range. Still, the cannon arm was a good blunt object and could block attacks as well, so it was something of a stalemate. At least, it was until wheels appeared on the monster's feet and he reversed several meters away in order to take a clear shot at them with the cannon arm, this time mimicking a flamethrower. Ethan raised his Tricerashield and jumped in front of Kira in order to block as much of the fire as he could.

Cryz smiled to the Red Ranger and said, "I think that's enough for now." She summoned an Invisiportal and beckoned the monster to her. They disappeared into it soon after. Conner just kinda looked after them, trying to figure out the purpose for this attack, when his teammates appeared to either side of him.

"What was that all about?" Ethan asked.

Conner shrugged and said, "I have no idea… Oh, wait! There were civilians fighting off 'drones earlier. We should check on them and see if they're alright."

They nodded and followed Conner to where he saw them fighting earlier. When they arrived, they saw the pile of Tyrannodrones in front of two teenagers that appeared to be their age. One of them turned around and saw the Rangers just standing there. He said, "Oh, hey guys. When'd you get your powers back?"

They blinked for a moment before powering down. Right in front of them stood Cassidy Cornell and Devin Del Valle. The Rangers were speechless for a moment. Finally, Conner managed to say, "Um… where did you guys learn to fight like that?"

They both blushed for a moment before Devin answered. "I used to take martial arts a long time ago…"

"And I took a self defense class once. Every reporter needs to know how to defend themselves." Cassidy continued.

"Plus we learned some things by watching you guys fight, too." Devin finished.

Now it was the Rangers' turn to blush. Kira looked them both over for a moment before noticing a few nasty looking cuts and bruises on them. She said, "You guys are hurt. You should come back to Dr. Oliver's with us to get those looked at."

The two civilians looked to the other two Rangers who had nodded their approval of the plan. The five of them took off for the Dino Lab together.

* * *

Once they arrived through the hidden entrance, Angela set upon them immediately, looking over each of them to assess what injuries they might have had. Once the Rangers were checkout out, she moved on to Cassidy and Devin, tending to their wounds while Conner, Kira, and Ethan turned their attentions to Dr. Oliver, who was sitting at the computer looking over the battle video. Conner opened up the conversation. "They're getting smarter, attacking with both a General and a monster at the same time. We had to split up to take them on, since even going three-to-two would've given them the advantage."

Tommy nodded in understanding. He said, "Yeah, it's tough when they split you up, especially when there's so few of you to begin with. I just wish I knew of a way to help…"

The three turned to each other, unknowingly in a triangle formation. Ethan said, "We really need more help out there. This feels like only the beginning…"

Kira spoke next, "Yeah, but what can we do? It's just the three of us. Even if Doctor O. and Trent were still able to help, I wonder if it would be enough…"

Finally, Conner said, "That doesn't matter. We're all Reefside has to defend it. If that's what it takes, we'll go down fighting. We give our all until there's nothing left to give."

That statement seemed to be the trigger for what happened next. Twin beams of light shot out from the Dino Gem around Conner's neck, each one hitting the Gem Pendant on his teammates. From there, the light traveled between Kira and Ethan until they joined in a perfect equilateral triangle. Then from the midpoint of the lines between them, the energy seemed to split and travel back into their Gems, only to be cast out into the center of the triangle, where the three beams of light met with each other, building into a large ball of energy. As soon as the last of the light entered this ball, it almost seemed to explode, causing the three Ranger to fall backwards. A trail of energy shot away from them, striped in pink and green. They scrambled to their feet and followed the energy into the adjacent room, where Angela was still attending their two visitors. They arrived just in time to witness the energy enveloping them.

Once the light died away, the six attendees to the light show that just occurred stood and stared at one another. Finally, Conner noticed something about the two newcomers. He asked, "What's that you guys are holding?"

Cassidy and Devin looked to each other before looking down to their right hands, which they were holding up closed. They both slowly opened their palms to reveal a small Gem-like object in each; the one in Cassidy's hand was colored Pink, in Devin's was colored Green. The Gems suddenly flared to life and on their left wrists formed Morphers; Devin's was green and in the shape of a Parasaur head, Cassidy's was a dark pink and in the shape of a Stegosaur head.

Devin looked at the object on his wrist for a moment before asking, "What the heck just happened?"

Dr. Oliver, who had followed his Rangers into the room just behind them, said, "Looks like you just got some new teammates, courtesy of the Morphing Grid."

The five of them continued to stare for a few more minutes. Finally, Conner said, "Welcome to the team."

* * *

Dr. Oliver had set the two of them down in front of the computer and had them watch the Power Ranger documentary that he had created. He had been busy in the last two weeks, and had actually managed to include a full section on the Dino Thunder Rangers' actions over the school year, though he kept the ending scene of entrusting the future to the three of them. He made a mental note to include the two newest additions at some point.

Once they finished watching it, Devin couldn't seem to hide his excitement. He said, "I _knew_ that Blake guy we saw that one day wasn't just a motocross rider! And I know one of the oldest and best veterans too… that is so cool."

"It's a lot to take in." Cassidy said. "It's a lot to live up to… but if Conner can do it, I know I can."

She heard a loud "Hey!" from the other room along with a round of laughing coming from Kira, Ethan, and Angela. The levity was cut short by an alarm, to which Tommy immediately set to work on pinpointing the source of the disturbance. He bought up an image of a location downtown not too far from the fight that morning; Cryz was back with the monster from earlier and a small army of Tyrannodrones. The original trio of Dino Thunder Rangers had appeared behind their new teammates and saw what was on the screen. Dr. Oliver turned to them and said, "This is it; time for your first battle as Rangers. Are you ready?"

They nodded and replied, "Ready." They took up positions behind the other three, but appearing to be between Conner and the Ranger on either side of him. They performed the usual motions as if they had always done it, and shouted in unison with the others, "Dino Thunder, Power Up, Hah!"

After the light had dimmed, the five of them stood in their uniforms. The Green Ranger appeared almost identical to the other male Rangers, only in an obviously green costume; his helmet had features similar in appearance to the Parasaurzord. Similarly, the new Pink Ranger's costume was just like Kira's, only pink. A distinct likeness to the Stegozord adorned her helmet. After admiring their new appearance for a moment, Dr. Oliver got their attention, saying, "The White and Black Dino ATV's were never actually destroyed, so you two can take those to get there. Now get going before they cause too much damage."

* * *

They arrived in a matter of minute but stayed on their vehicles at first. Conner suggested drawing Thundermax Sabers and cutting all the 'drones down first before dismounting to tackle the remaining two. It was agreed upon and so they did. The entire platoon of foot soldiers was down and out in seconds, allowing the five of them to concentrate on the more dangerous opponents. Once this was done, the five of them formed a line in front of Cryz and the monster. "She looks familiar." Cassidy observed.

Conner shook his head. "You've seen one leather-bound freak, you've seen them all. How do you want to do this, guys?"

A voice cut though the air. _"Try your weapons. You can't plan a strategy if you don't know what you can attack with."_ Dr. Oliver could be heard coming from each of their morphers.

They nodded as one and summoned each of their weapons together. The three originals received their old familiar weapons as usual; the two new additions discovered exactly what kind of weapons they were getting.

"Huh, a Paralance." Devin commented. It reminded him of what the original Blue Ranger had for a weapon, in that it was a double ended weapon with very sharp three-pronged edges on either end. He could see the seam in the middle where they could split apart and form two weapons.

"Cool, I've got a Stega Bow." Cassidy said. It was another similarity to the originals, and secretly pleasing to the newest Pink Ranger, as several summers ago she had taken an archery course which she had thoroughly enjoyed.

With this newest knowledge, Conner started forming a plan of attack. "Ethan, Cassidy, take on the monster from a distance. Ethan should block with his shield and use his Thundermax Laser while Cassidy attacks with her bow. The rest of us will take on Cryz with a three-pronged attack, each one approaching from a different direction, engaging two at a time. The third of us will circle around and attack, letting one of us disengage and do the same. Keep her guessing who will attack and who won't. Everyone agreed?" They all nodded. "Then let's go!"

They split according to the plan. Ethan stood a distance away from the monster with his shield raised at the ready to deflect any of its shots, while he held his laser to the side. Cassidy took a position just to the side on Ethan's shield side, her bow string held back. An arrow had appeared there when she did that; somehow she knew it would. The monster grunted and shot at the duo, opting for solid shells this time. The Blue Ranger batted them away, giving Cassidy a chance to take a shot. The arrow sailed through the air and exploded on impact with the monster, appearing to drive him backwards a little. Ethan chanced taking a shot with his laser and scored a direct hit, which also stumbled the monster. It recovered and started firing again, this time choosing some type of energy ball. They continued this exchange for quite some time, each one with a different type of projectile being emitted from the monster's cannon. Neither seemed to be able to get any kind of an advantage, though.

Meanwhile, Conner, Kira, and Devin had charged Cryz, who held her weapon at the ready. She didn't seem to actually be surprised that there were more Rangers than before, like it was to be expected for some reason. As they ran, Devin appeared to break off to attack the monster instead, and Conner and Kira engaged the General. Despite being attacked by two opponents, Cryz held her own quite well, getting a few cuts and slashes in while blocking all of their attacks. She was absorbed in this combat, however, and didn't notice that the Green Ranger had approached from behind and slashed at her back, causing her to divert her attention. Conner jumped over her and joined Devin in his attack; he had spilt his weapon into two short lances for the sustained attack. Kira had also come around, but appeared to have run to join her other comrades, such that Cryz was once again absorbed with her two combatants. A thought occurred to Kira that this strategy could be modified slightly, so she promptly pulled her laser out when she was at a distance and began firing at her back and sides.

Several burn marks were left all over Cryz's leather armor, and she appeared to have been staggered by the attack. Conner and Devin got a couple of good swings in on her while she was disoriented, which was enough to drive her away. Wordlessly, she summoned an Invisiportal and left the battle. The Rangers didn't celebrate their victory just yet, as they noticed that once again the fight with the monster was a stalemate. Devin said, "That's not working; he's too well armored. We need that blaster thing."

Conner nodded and said, "But first we need to stop him from firing at us long enough to form it. Suggestions?"

"Blast it constantly with our lasers? Get it far off balance long enough to combine and strike?" Kira submitted.

"I like it." Devin said.

"Me too," Conner added. "Let's do it. Lasers!" The three of them drew their Thundermax Lasers and aimed them at the monster. "Fire!" They started firing in unison, striking different parts of the monster and causing it to stumble around. It finally fell over, and due to its heavy body, it was having trouble standing back up.

Taking this as their cue, Conner shouted, "Form the blaster, everybody!" Although Cassidy and Devin didn't actually know how their weapons combined into it, they managed on instinct: the Stega Bow connected under the front of the Tricerashield, and the twin pieces of the Paralance attached to the top of the bow to either side of the shield. Completed, they got into positions around the weapon and shouted, "Z-Rex Megablaster!" Devin shouted, "Ready?" followed by Cassidy's, "Aim," and then Conner's, 'Fire!" A massive ball of energy was ejected from the blaster and knifed through the monster as if it had no armor at all. It fell to the ground and promptly exploded. The Rangers whooped and shouted in victory before seeing a flash of light and hearing a bang sound coming from above them. A brief rain shower preceded the appearance of the monster in super-sized form standing over them. Conner lifted his morpher to his helmet and said, "We need Brachio, Dr. Oliver."

"_On his way."_ Came the reply. Soon, a rumbling sound could be heard, and an oversized black Brachiozord came into view. It opened several panels around itself and the Tyranno, Tricera, and Ptrera Zords all came bounding out.

Devin and Cassidy looked upon this in wonder. Devin said, "What about us? Should we go back to the Lab?"

Before Conner could answer, a voice sounded from Cassidy's wrist. "Hey, what about us? We want to play, too." The Stego morpher shifted and changed to the Drego head before continuing, "Yes, we would like to fight, too. Don't start without us."

Cassidy looked bewildered at her morpher. Kira just chuckled and said, "Looks like you get control of the Dino Stegozord."

Conner nodded and said, "Hey Devin, how would you like your own megazord, too?" He lifted his morpher to his helmet again and said, "Mezodon Rover!" The massive zord came bounding out from wherever it's been hiding. Conner pulled out the Shield of Triumph and handed it to Devin, saying, "Here you go. You just put the shield into the console and it should transform into the Mezodon Megazord. Have fun!"

The Dregozord and Stegozord arrived shortly thereafter, and each of them leapt into their zords, forming each of the Thundersaurus Megazord, Dino Stegozord, and Mezodon Megazord. The three squared off against the monster, which started blasting them with explosive rounds almost immediately.

All three megazords were rocked by the attack. Ethan got an idea and said, "Cassidy, call on the Ankylozord to shield from the blasts. We'll take the Cephelozord and smash that cannon's barrel. Devin, keep him busy at close range so we can approach and neutralize his threat."

"_Got it."_ Came their voices. They proceeded with the plan, the Ankylozord and Cephelozord coming out of Brachio and adjoining the megazords they were called from. Devin began a fierce melee attack against the monster, while the Dino Stegozord stood at a distance with the Ankylozord shielding the blasts from the cannon. The Thundersaurus Megazord approached unseen from the side. Once they were close enough, the pilots of the megazord shouted, "Cephelo Power Punch!" The attack bent the cannon arm every which way; the monster was still firing at the time, so the next shot that tried to go through the barrel blew the monster's cannon arm up. The blast caused a huge crack to appear in its armor. They noticed this and pressed their attacks, engaging both the Tyranno Drill and the Ankylo Drill at the same time. In a huge blast, the monster was no more.

* * *

The battle over, the Rangers stumbled back into the Dino Lab under Dr. Oliver's house. Cassidy and Devin collapsed onto the couch that was situated along the wall, leaning against each other with their eyes closed. The other three stood nearby, and Tommy addressed them all. "You've done well for your first battle as a team of five. I'm impressed with your command of the Dino Stegozord, Cassidy, and good idea, Conner, giving Devin the Mezodon Rover."

Conner beamed at the praise, then turned to Kira, saying, "You changed the plan."

She glared at him and replied, "Hey, it worked, didn't it? I mean, I know your plan was a good one, but I saw a means to improve it…"

Conner grabbed her shoulder and interrupted her. "I didn't say it was a bad change. I'm impressed in your forethought. You probably saved us a ton of time in taking Cryz out of the fight. Good work."

Kira shut her mouth and just stood there, blushing at his words. Cassidy suppressed a giggle at the exchange and said, "That was something else, though. It's such a rush, I almost want to go back out there, just to get that feeling back." She thought on the fight for a moment before asking, "You guys have never needed that much planning before, have you?"

"Not that kind of planning." Dr. Oliver answered her. "The original Ranger teams had to come up with some special things in the past, and a couple of times we formed a real plan against Mesogog, but for the most part, we just charged into battle and removed the enemy before they could cause devastation."

Conner stretched and said, "I don't know about you guys, but I could use a smoothie. Who's with me?" The others shouted in agreement and they filed out to Conner's car. He had to raise the arm rest to fit all six of them, but it wasn't uncomfortable.

* * *

"It's as you expected, Master." Cryz drawled. Her head was bowed and she looked apprehensive, as if this news was going to illicit a punishment. "There are two new Rangers; a pink and a green one. We were beaten due to these reinforcements."

A wheezing breath sound could be heard in response. After a moment of tension, it replied, "Did I not say I sensed more Gems? You were careless and didn't anticipate their power and strategy. Go and watch them. Report back with everything you know about these other Rangers." Cryz exhaled in relief and left the room. The remaining individual regarded the schematics on the screen off to the side and said, "Soon, Rangers, I will have my revenge. It is only a matter of time…"


	10. Blast from the Past

**Author's Notes**: It seems some of you out there already think you know more about my fic than I do. We shall see! I had plenty of fun with this one. I had started it yesterday, but wasn't able to get more than a little over a thousand words in. I took over writing it while compressing some video, since there wasn't much else I could do on my computer while doing that.

Anyways, this chapter started writing itself after a little while, and the ideas simply flowed. I quite surprise myself with this stuff, sometimes. I hope you all enjoy it. Any comments or complaints go in the review box, like usual.

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban. Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. I only own the story and the words, and Cryz from time to time. Seriously, I beat her at Super Baseball 2020 the other day! I totally owned her!

* * *

They arrived to the cybercafé that afternoon and took the usual central table of the establishment. It was the first time that this particular group of six had ever sat together, not to mention that it was a slightly tighter squeeze than they were used to. Once they all had received their orders, a question that had nagged at Kira since they first happened upon the two of them was finally too much to not ask. "So what were you guys doing before you got attacked? Also, where've you been that you didn't already know we got our powers back?"

Devin and Cassidy looked to each other for a moment before Devin spoke first. "Both of our families like to take our Summer Family Vacations as soon as school lets out. We've both been out of the city for the last two weeks."

Cassidy picked up where Devin left off. "We were actually on our way here to tell each other about them. We turned a corner and the next thing we knew, we were being charged by those things. Normally we've always ran away from them, but we didn't see a monster with them, and there _were_ only four of them, so we figured we'd just stop them right there. If anything else had happened, we'd have been out of there."

The door to the café opened and in walked Krista. She made her way to the counter, placed her order, then turned and saw the group sitting at the table. She narrowed her eyes and made a 'humph' sound, then took her order and strode out the door. The Ranger group noticed this and the two newcomers turned back to Conner with questions in their eyes. He said, "She's still mad at me, I guess. She broke up with me because I wouldn't tell her our secret. I say if she can't trust me enough to not suspect something being up, I have no reason to trust her with this."

They nodded in understanding. Just then, Hayley's new employee came in and popped up next to them, looking over the group inquisitively. She said, "Oh, you guys are new. I've not seen you two hanging around them before. I'm Jennifer, but you can call me Jen. Hayley hired me last week because her previous employee moved away… I think his name was… Trent? I don't remember. Anyways, I just thought I'd introduce myself since I'm still kind of new around here…" She was babbling at this point and seemed to have realized it since she just kind of looked embarrassed and stopped talking. The group introduced themselves, since not even the others had done so before. Some more customers had walked in so she excused herself and started working, since her shift apparently had just started.

Ethan looked to his companions before saying, "Well, that was weird… Hayley sure knows how to hire 'em, doesn't she?"

Angela poked him in the side and said, "Hey, since we're here, why don't you show me that game you've been drooling over recently." Ethan's eyes lit up at this, which caused the other four to roll their own eyes in return. They got up and headed for a vacant computer.

Conner too stood up, and said, "Headed to the bathroom. Be back in a moment."

He walked off with the others watching him. Once he was safely behind the door, Cassidy leaned forward and said, "What's up with Conner's car? Since when was it a deep orange color?"

Kira visibly blushed for a split second before willing it away. She answered, "Before I say anything, let me ask you something… You two like each other now, right? If so, it'll make explaining a little easier…" Cassidy and Devin looked away from each other, confirming Kira's thoughts; she continued, "That's what I thought. You've both only been Rangers for a few hours, but I'm sure you can already feel the color association impulses; Cassidy should be wanting to wear the color Pink and have it all around her, while Devin should be feeling similar about Green. Since you two actually like each other, though, there should be a secondary color impulse in the back of your minds in each others' colors. You're fortunate that Pink and Green don't blend well, unlike…" She trailed off at this point and let the two of them put the pieces together. Realization dawned on both of them and their eyes widened. Kira just smiled back at them weakly in response and said, "Yeah, Conner's car got trashed by 'drones before we got our powers back completely. He fixed it up this weekend; before he started working on it, he told me he was going to do it, and when I joked about him painting it a new color, he confirmed that's what he suddenly wanted to do… And it seems he actually did it…"

Devin got his voice back and asked, "Has he actually asked you yet?"

She shook her head. "It seems he thinks not enough time has passed since both Trent left and since his breakup."

Cassidy perked up at the mention of Trent and asked, "Yeah, where is he? I haven't seen him since before school let out…"

"He's upstate. He enrolled in a vocational school where he could focus on his art. He father moved him into an apartment up there, and Conner, Ethan, and Doctor O. helped him move his stuff last Friday."

"Oh." Was all they said. Conner returned from the bathroom at about this point and retook his seat next to Kira. He said, "So how was your vacations? I mean, I'm sure it was enjoyable simply getting out of the city after the way this last year was…"

They spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying each others' company and actually taking the opportunity to get to know each other more than they had in school before.

* * *

"Report!"

"It seems the Rangers have two new friends; a bumbling reporter and her cameraman are now in uniform beside them." Cryz now stood tall compared to when she was reporting earlier that day. Several hours had passed, as there were obligations she had to do before she could return. She continued, "They also appear to have an infatuation with each other. We may be able to use it against them."

He appeared pleased with the information. Despite feeling more confident, Cryz was still unnerved by the sound of her master's breathing, which he sometimes seemed to be emphasizing. He commanded, "Prepare yourself, for tomorrow you are taking a trip. I need you to find some objects which are still quite powerful, but have been abandoned for several years. We will need them for our new plans; should we acquire them, the Rangers will not be able to defend themselves!"

He begun laughing, which caused to Cryz to shiver. She asked, "Where will I be going, master?"

He stopped laughing, looked her in the eyes, and said, "Angel Grove."

* * *

The Ranger had caught a fortunate break the next day. Although they were ready for another attack, none came. About halfway through the day, it was agreed that they should simply be trying to relax when things like this happen, since it won't happen often. They went about their favorite activities and felt like they got back some of the energy they'd been expending recently.

Wednesday morning, however, changed everything. The Rangers had gathered in the Dino Lab for a briefing when a different kind of alarm started sounding. Some confused looks were being thrown around, so Tommy did his best to ease their fears and said, "This is the _natural disaster_ alarm. It's mostly for detecting earthquakes and severe storms, though. Let me see what it detected…" He fiddled with the computer to bring up an image of what triggered the alarm. "Ah, here it is. Seems there was an explosion in the mountains Northeast of town." Again with the confused stares from the Rangers, so he continued, "I also keyed the alarm in to unexplainable explosions."

Now they understood. Conner turned to his teammates and said, "Kira and I will check out that explosion, you three stay on standby in case we need you or in case of an attack. Now would be the perfect time to distract us with a monster, and I'm sure whoever is sending them knows this."

Conner was about to get into his morphing stance when he noticed Kira not moving. He threw a look her way and she said, "Why am I going with you? Why not one of the others?"

Conner rolled his eyes and sighed. "For one thing, if we get separated during our investigation, I will definitely be able to hear your Ptera Scream. For another thing, I've heard from Devin and Cassidy that they had some technical things they needed to discuss with Ethan and Angela, and they can't do that if any of them are out with me."

"Oh." They got into their typical morphing stance and proceeded to transform. They decided on taking the Raptor Riders instead of the Cycles, since it was mountainous terrain they would be going through, so the ability to jump and more easily dodge obstacles would be a positive.

The Raptors certainly seemed to be enjoying the chance to get out. Not that they didn't mind stay in and guarding the Lab, it's just having a chance to be out with their humans was a thrill, not to mention the chance to go into battle. They knew this was a reconnaissance mission, but it didn't mean they weren't going into battle!

They arrived at the coordinates provided to them and found what looked like a chunk of cliff face having been blown off. They demorphed after dismounting, unsure of if the energy of their Ranger form was able to be tracked, and proceeded into the ruins. Bits of machinery were strewn about, but the disturbing find was the Tyrannodrone parts that also seemed to be littering the floor. Either whatever was here had something to do with the current evil, or the current evil sent the 'drones to destroy this place. The latter was looking less and less likely, especially since who would have a factory in the middle of nowhere in a cliff face?

They continued their cautious search until they found what was likely the epicenter of the blast. The machine looked important enough, even if it had apparently blossomed out from the explosion. They examined the outside of it wordlessly, each going around the opposite side of it. When this turned up nothing, they looked to each other and finally turned to the ruined structure. Pieces of it were able to be moved away, so they did in order to get closer. There in the center was the glint of something golden. Kira, with her smaller size, was able to wiggle her way in to reach it. When she withdrew her hand, she turned the object over a few times as they examined it.

It was a small golden coin with a figure carved into it. Conner finally spoke, "It looks like a mammoth, or something similar to it."

Kira nodded, "Yeah, but what is it? I feel as though I've seen it before, but I can't place where exactly that was…"

"We should take it back to Dr. Oliver. Maybe he knows what it is, or has at least seen it before…"

He started to walk away with Kira following, when she suddenly stopped. Something had been bothering her and she had to say something…

"Conner? So are you planning to actually ask me out, or what? I mean, if you are, you might as well get it over with now…"

Conner stiffened at the accusation. Without turning, he answered, "Why? So you can get the rejection out of the way?"

Kira just rolled her eyes. Conner could be so negative sometimes. "No, idiot, so we can give it a chance and see if it's right. While I don't currently have feelings beyond you being my best friend, that doesn't mean it can't change. Trent tried with me, so I suppose I can try with you…"

He turned to face her and asked, "Are you sure about this? It's why I hadn't asked you, since I didn't want to chance it until I was sure you might've felt something in return…"

Suddenly she felt a little guilty for putting the ultimatum out there like that. She said, "Okay, I get why you wanted to wait, but it's a little late for that now. It'll be for the best to just try going out a few times. If it feels right, we keep going, otherwise, we agree that it was worth a shot and stay best friends, okay?"

Conner thought about it for a few moments before nodding. "Okay, so how about a movie on Saturday? You can even pick it out; doesn't matter to me what we watch."

Whatever answer Kira gave was drowned out by a cry from the Raptors. They looked up in time to dodge to either side of a lightning blast. They morphed and entered battle stances before even seeing who had attacked them.

Standing a dozen meters away was Cryz. She cried out, "Give back what you stole from my master!" She attacked with another lightning blast before charging them to try any slash with her sword. Kira wasn't able to get to the coin, since she had pocketed it before morphing, so it was temporarily sealed off from access.

Conner shouted, "We don't have time to mess with you!" He approximated a whistling sound, and soon the Raptors were bounding towards them, taking a moment to snap at Cryz before stopping in front of their partners. Conner and Kira patted them affectionately for a moment before mounting them and riding off at top speed. Whatever that coin was, it was super important, and it meant that they had to get it back to Doctor Oliver as soon as possible!

* * *

Shortly after the Red and Yellow Rangers had left, Ethan turned to his new teammates and asked them, "So what's this idea you had?"

Cassidy looked to Devin and he spoke first, "I remember from the footage of the original Rangers that they had an attack that combined their laser weapons into one big blast. I was wondering if we couldn't do something similar…"

Angela was nearby at the computer and punched up the footage Devin was mentioning. Three Rangers stood side by side, while two Rangers stood on their shoulders, each pointing their lasers towards the center of the group. The fired at once, and the energy gathered into some kind of symbol (Ethan noted how much it looked like the Triforce) and fired it off at the monster, which blew it up quite easily. Ethan nodded at the attack, and started to formulate how they could do something similar. It might take a modification to the lasers, but they should be able to make something like that happen.

The normal alarm that signified an attack of some sort went off. Still at the computer, Angela went about locating the disturbance and found a scattering of Tyrannodrones causing general mayhem. The three remaining Ranger looked to each other and nodded. They got into positions and morphed. Ethan walked up to his Raptor and said, "Keep watch here. I know you're by yourself for the moment, but I know you'll keep this place safe." It made a confirmatory screech, and Ethan made his way to his Raptor Cycle, Cassidy and Devin taking their newly repainted Dino ATVs. They sped off to repel the attack.

When they arrived, the area appeared to have taken more damage than usual, but they paid it no mind since it was far more important to stop them than to survey the vicinity. Tricerashield, Paralance, and Thundermax Saber were employed as they waded into the fray. The first thing that they noticed was that the 'drones appeared to be made of slightly stronger materials. Ethan noted to himself that they seemed to be as strong as the ones Mesogog had used against them. They still had the same heightened ability to work together with one another, which made them much more dangerous compared to before.

Cassidy cried out as she got swarmed by three at once. Devin shouted as he plunged to her rescue, driving two of them away in order to give her the time to dispatch the third one. She said, "This isn't working. I need my bow!"

Ethan heard her and yelled to them, "Clear a space and get her out of the melee, then cover her while she's picking them off!" Devin grunted in response and swept his lance around, giving the Pink Ranger the space to get far enough away to draw her Stega Bow. The Green Ranger then took a defensive position with his Paralance and stayed at the ready in case any 'drones tried to charge her. Ethan stayed in the middle of the combat in order to try to keep as many of them from breaking off as possible, and Cassidy started picking the opposition off one by one. Each arrow appeared to have the power to disable one of them, and in a few short minutes, the crowd was visibly thinned.

The Blue Ranger had taken a defensive position next to Devin with his Thundermax Saber drawn, giving him a classic sword-and-shield look. No 'drone was able to get past them, and it seemed victory was all but assured, when they were rocked by what appeared to be white lightning. Looking beyond the remaining drones stood Cryz and a new monster; this one looked like a very strange amalgam of creatures, with a body like an anthropomorphic tiger, the faceplate and horns of a triceratops, extremely dangerous looking teeth, and large, leathery wings that were folded in, apparently because they were not currently needed. Cryz cackled at them and said, "Let's see if you can handle this!" She promptly lifted her hand and summoned an Invisiportal, taking herself and the 'drones away, leaving the three Rangers to battle the new monster.

"I don't like the look of this." Devin said. The other agreed and took up defensive stances. The monster screeched and bent low, then proceeded to run at them at a high speed.

It was all they could do to dive out of the way before getting gored on its horns. Ethan shouted, "Spread out! Keep it from getting to all of us at once. If you aren't targeted, blast it with lasers!"

They put several meters of distance between each other and stood in a rough triangle. In the center, the monster faced each of them in turn before settling on the Pink Ranger. It repeated its previous actions and charged Cassidy, who jumped over it at the last second. Ethan and Devin tried to hit it with their Thundermax Lasers, but it extended its wings and absorbed the attacks, seemingly without injury. Cassidy ran past the others to take a triangulated position again, this time drawing her bow and preparing in case it targeted one of the others. It did and tried to attack the Green Ranger this time. An arrow was loosed, and it sunk deep into the softer skin in the monster's side. It snorted in protest and stumbled, stopping its rampage temporarily. Gripping the protruding arrow, it yanked it out forcefully and threw it towards Ethan, who barely blocked the missile with his shield.

The Rangers regrouped now, since the monster appeared to have stopped attacking and was instead simply watching them. Ethan whispered to the others, "This isn't good. We need Conner and Kira…"

* * *

While the Blue, Pink, and Green rangers were battling the 'drones, the Yellow and Red Rangers were just getting back from their excursion to the blast site. They demorphed and looked around the Lab, not seeing Dr. Oliver anywhere. Kira turned to where Angela was on the computer and asked, "Where's Doctor O.?"

Without turning, Angela said, "He's upstairs."

Conner started to go up when Kira placed her hand on his arm and said, "I'll get him." She ran up the stairs and could hear Conner asking where the others went when she emerged into the house. She found him lounging in the living room with a newspaper. "Doctor O.? We just got back from the site of the explosion…"

He looked up to her and said, "What did you find?"

She put her hands in her pockets and started, "It was a complete mess; machinery and 'drone parts all over the place." She withdrew her hands and kept one of her palms closed. "At the epicenter we found a big machine; it had this in the center." She held out her hand and dropped the coin into his open palm. He took it and examined the markings on it; he froze almost instantly when he recognized the symbol.

Kira was about to say something when she heard a shout from downstairs. "Ethan and the others are in trouble! We've got to get down there to help them!" She exploded into movement to get back downstairs, morphing along the way, and found Conner already transformed and making his way to the Cycles. She nodded to him and climbed onto the Yellow Cycle; she followed him out of the lair to wherever the attack was actually happening at.

* * *

It had only stopped for about two minutes before beginning its attack anew. This time, it extended the wings and began beating them mightily, which first caused winds which buffeted the Rangers enough to throw them off balance. Then it took to the air and flew up high before going into a dive; clawed hands at the end of muscled arms held in front of it as part of the attack.

The Rangers hadn't had the chance to recover from being blown over, so were sitting ducks before the hunter when it swooped down and slashed at them. The attack blasted them every which direction, and they rolled away, crying out in pain. It arced back upward and started flying in circles around the Rangers, constantly moving to both stay in the air, and keep them guessing. It was preparing to attack again when laser fire drilled into its front side, causing it to fly backwards and attempt to keep its altitude.

"Thought you could use a hand." Kira stated as she aimed her laser again. She and Conner fired again, and soon the monster was forced back to the ground. It wasn't without defenses, however, and it folded its wing in front of it to start shielding its body from the lasers.

Cassidy saw this move and said, "I don't think so." She raised her bow and fired twice in rapid succession. Each arrow pierced one of the wings and buried into the flesh of the beast, pinning the wings in place and preventing the monster from withdrawing them or moving its arms. She fired several more times in order to ensure that the monster wouldn't simply break its imprisonment immediately.

Conner inclined his helmet in her direction, saying, "Good thinking, Cassidy. Seems those wings block simple lasers. Options?"

"The Megablaster?" Ethan suggested.

"Ooh, can we try that idea I had?" Devin questioned.

Ethan shook his head and said, "We don't even know if it'll work. I haven't had time to inspect the power sources for the lasers…"

"I've been giving it some thought, though…" Devin argued, "Since we're now powered completely by the Morphing Grid like the originals, our weapons may now be configured like theirs. It might just work!"

Conner looked back and forth between them before asking, "How do we do this attack?"

Devin's face lit up behind his mask. He said, "You stand in the middle between Ethan and I, while Cassidy and Kira jump up and balance on our shoulders. We then aim our lasers into the center of the triangle and fire, which should create an energy blast that will be aimed in the direction we face."

Conner nodded as he considered the words. Finally, he said, "Let's try it. If it doesn't work, be ready to form the Megablaster, though."

The three boys lined up facing the still struggling monster. It had managed to dislodge a couple of the arrows, but some of them were being stubborn. Kira and Cassidy performed synchronized backflips and landed on the shoulders of the other three Rangers. They drew their Thundermax Lasers and pointed them into the middle of the triangle-like formation. At Conner's signal, they fired at once; the lasers converged, and almost immediately a blast shot out towards the monster. The symbol, Ethan noted, was the five-pointed Dino Thunder symbol that adorned the chest of the Triassic Ranger. The energy slammed into the front of the creature and seemed to disappear. Electricity seemed to play across the surface of it and without pretense it exploded.

The girls hopped of their shoulders and whooped in victory, though they stayed wary in case a further battle of larger proportions was imminent. Fortunately, there didn't actually appear to be any remains after the smoke cleared. Where it stood, though, something appeared to be glimmering. Devin pointed and asked, "What's that?"

The Red and Yellow Rangers looked up and froze momentarily, feeling a wave of déjà vu. Ethan saw that they weren't moving, so went he to check out what seemed to be left behind. Lying on the ground where normally there would be monster remains was three gilt coins with shapes on them. He picked them up and studied them in turn; the figures each looked like a triceratops, a saber-toothed tiger, and some form of Pteranodon. Something nagged at the back of his mind that these seemed familiar, but he dismissed it.

When he made it back to the group, Conner said, "Golden coins with a figure of an ancient animal of some sort carved into them."

Ethan looked to his leader in bewilderment. How did he know that? "Yeah, precisely what they are. We should get these back for analysis. Whatever they are, they were powerful enough to fuel that monster…"

The others agreed and together they sped back to the lab.

* * *

Cryz screamed in pain as her mind was invaded again and again. Through her agony, she could hear the harsh voice of her master saying, "You have failed me again. You lost me four of the original Power Coins, leaving me with little to fuel my revenge." He stopped his mental attack and his servant crashed to the ground unconscious. He opened his palm to regard the object in his hand. "Fortunately we still have the most powerful one. How shall I use this… Ah, I know…" He strode over to a computer console and brought up a long forgotten image. "They say you should let sleeping dogs lie… but what about sleeping dragons?" Ominous laughter filled the room as he reveled in his new scheme.


	11. Ranger, with a History

**Author's Notes**: Things are starting to get exciting, no? I'll just go ahead and address a few questions some people will have after reading this chapter. First off, this is as accurate as it gets for the descriptions of how things are from _Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger_. I'm not going to scour the episodes again to determine any other translations, nor will I choose when, exactly, they are to be snatched from the series. Just go with it; it's all in good fun and entertainment! Oh, and if you're wondering if that last word in the chapter is the same as a previous character from the series, well… I guess you'll just have to see!

Finally, I hope you all enjoy the little interactions between Conner and Kira; nothing big or extravagant yet, but minor things that tend to build up over time. I did mention that I was taking this slow, right? Oh, and no, that's not a reference to _Binding Destinies_. Just to let you know.

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban. Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger is owned by Toei. I only own the story and the words… and Cryz and Jen, who is finally up to recurring character status!

* * *

The five Dino Thunder Rangers returned to the lab under Dr. Oliver's house as quickly as they could; something seemed very important about the coins they had found recently and they wanted as much input from the veteran as they could manage. When they arrived, they found Tommy sitting at the computer running an analysis on the first coin that Conner and Kira had brought in. He was so absorbed in his work that he didn't appear to have heard them come in.

Ethan handed the three new coins to Angela before demorphing himself. They walked up to where the mentor was sitting and Ethan said, "We found these in place of where the monster was. You know anything about them?" Angela placed them in front of the older man, which caused his eyes to widen in shock.

The rest of them had gathered around behind him and studied the information on the screen. Conner said, "That thing still has power in it? If it caused the explosion, you'd think it would have been drained…"

Tommy snapped out of the trance the objects had put him into and turned to face his Rangers. He said, "I just can't believe it managed to charge up again on its own. Not even the Tyrannosaurus Coin had managed to do that; it only charged up after being in proximity to the Red Gem when I was doing my initial investigations…"

Kira shook her head in confusion. "Dr. Oliver? Do you know what these things are?"

Tommy frowned for a moment before changing to a soft smile. He said, "Have a seat and I'll tell you the story of these coins…" The six teens, for whatever reason, sat on the floor in a half circle around the science teacher, each of them paired up. Once he appeared to have their undivided attention, he began his story. "Eleven years ago, a witch known as Rita Repulsa was freed from her space dumpster prison on the moon. An interdimensional being known as Zordon was stationed on the Earth, prepared to act in case this event ever happened. He had been observing human life for thousands of years and chose five worthy young people to take up the fight against Rita. He chose them to be the first team of Earth Power Rangers. To Zach Taylor he gave the Mastodon Power Coin, making him the Black Ranger; to Kimberly Hart he gave the Pterodactyl Power Coin, making her the Pink Ranger; to Billy Cranston he gave the Triceratops Power Coin, making him the Blue Ranger; to Trini Kwan he gave the Saber Toothed Tiger Power Coin, making her the Yellow Ranger; to Jason Scott he gave the Tyrannosaurus Power Coin, making him the Red Ranger." He paused to let them absorb all of the information. This was much more in-depth than his video had been, so it was mostly new information to them all. He continued, "A few weeks after they received their powers, I moved to Angel Grove and was subsequently recruited by Rita to be her Evil Green Ranger. Fortunately the others were able to break her spell on me and a week later I joined the team. My powers were unstable, though, and I eventually lost them; I gave the Dragonzord Power Coin to Jason for safekeeping. Then the original Dino powers weren't enough, Zordon upgraded everyone to Thunder power, and recycled everyone's zords to create new, more powerful machines. Eventually, I was recruited by Zordon to become the Earth's first White Ranger, and I rejoined the team. Not long after that, Jason, Trini, and Zach were chosen to be youth representatives at the International Peace Conference and had a need to leave the team. Three new Rangers were chosen, and their powers were transferred over to Rocky DeSantos, Aisha Campbell, and Adam Park; the coins and morphers were duplicated, but the power in the coins was drained out of the originals and inserted into the duplicates. Each of Jason, Trini, and Zach still have the originals from what I can tell, so these should be the duplicates. When Ivan Ooze was freed from his cell, our powers were taken away, and we had to travel to the planet Phaedos to find the Great Power: a physical manifestation of the Morphing Grid. We acquired the powers of the Ninjetti and touched the Great Power, which temporarily granted us a morphed form and new zords. Unfortunately, it couldn't last, and we had to go on yet another quest here on Earth to find Ninjor and the Temple of Power. Ninjor was able to forge new Power Coins for us and linked them to our Ninjetti animal spirits, allowing us to keep up the fight. Unfortunately, those Power Coins were destroyed in a simulated past caused by Master Vile and the Orb of Doom."

They were entranced; this was more Ranger History from the man than they'd managed to pry from him in eight months of Rangering with him. Something occurred to the Red Ranger and he just had to ask, "So if the current evil guy managed to locate these four coins, who's to say he didn't find the original green or white coin?"

Tommy shook his head and said, "As I said, I left the Dragonzord Coin in Jason's possession. He should still have it…" That's when a new thought occurred to Tommy. "On the other hand, when Jason came back to take the Gold Zeo Powers, he brought that coin back… I don't know what he did with it afterwards. I'll have to ask him when I call him later to let the others know we have something of theirs…"

"And the White Coin?" Devin asked.

Tommy smiled and turned back around, punching a few keys on his computer terminal. A panel in the wall behind Kira and Conner slid open, revealing a basic combination safe. We walked over to it, entered in the combination and opened the safe. From their positions on the floor it appeared empty, but Tommy stuck his hand in anyways and promptly withdrew it. He closed the safe and walked back to his seat, inputting the command to close the panel. He turned back around and said, "This, is the White Tiger Power Coin." He held his hand out and displayed the device; it was approximately oval shaped with a gleaming golden coin set in the middle. The coin had the vague appearance of a tiger's face on it. As Tommy held the object in his hand, his face contorted a little before finally settling on a frown. The kids looked up at him inquisitively, so he explained, "I'm getting a weird feeling from the coin… it's like it's reacting to something else nearby…" Cassidy had pointed to his neck by this point, so he looked down to see his Dino Gem faintly pulsating. That clicked something in his head and he said, "That must be it; the energies from two different connections to the Morphing Grid must be interfering with each other. It's actually even more dangerous because they oppose each other; Black and White." He looked at the morpher for a few moments before coming to a decision. "That settles it." He gripped the Gem around his neck and closed his eyes in concentration; a black glow could be seen through the fingers of his hand. Suddenly, five separate beams of black light shot out and pierced the others' Gems. In a moment it was all over, and they each looked up to him with bewilderment. He simply smiled and said, "I took my connection to the Morphing Grid for the Black Gem and transferred an equal part of it to each of you; now any one of you can command the Brachiozord without needing to ask for it via remote control."

Conner looked up to his mentor warily and asked, "What does this mean for you?"

Tommy held up his old morpher and replied, "I only have one power source now. Since I'm not part of an active team, I'm still retired, but if I'm threatened in the field I should still be able to defend myself just fine." Ethan and Devin both nodded in acceptance, though the other three didn't appear one hundred per cent convinced. He said, "Hey, whoever took the coins in the first place may try to take them back, and may even come after my coin; It would be better to keep it on me at all times and even use it should the matter be pressed."

That convinced them, it seemed. Kira had mostly appeared to be in deep thought from a certain point in the story. Seeing a breaking point in the conversation, she decided to speak up. "Hey, I know I already met the first Yellow Ranger, but I've not had the chance to meet the original Pterodactyl Ranger; would she be willing to come to Reefside for a few days?"

Tommy's expression blanked out at her question. He said, "I don't know, Kira. That might not be a good idea…"

Conner looked up at him pleadingly and said, "Aw, come on Doctor O.; not only would she get the chance to meet her, but it would give Cassidy the chance to meet her predecessor, too. I mean, the rest of us have already had that chance, so why not just ask her?"

The former Black Ranger looked about to protest for a moment before finally caving. "Alright, I'll give her a call and see if she can visit. I make no promises, but I'll at least ask."

A wide smile played across Kira's face; she leaned over and enveloped Conner in a hug. "Thank you for convincing him!" Was all she said. He chuckled softly and returned the hug briefly before they broke apart. Though the two of them didn't see it, a combination of smirks and soft smiles were on the faces of the others in the room.

Tommy slapped his hands on his knees and said, "Well, that's enough of a history lesson for today. Why don't you all go home and get some rest; you all have to be tired after the battles today. I'll make my phone calls tonight and we'll see if there'll be any visitors any time soon."

The kids got up off the floor and stretched a bit. They started filing out of the lab, though Kira hung back a little. She said, "Conner? I never got the chance to answer you earlier today…" He turned back to face her with a hopeful look in his eyes. She continued, "I'd love to go see a movie with you on Saturday. I'll let you know which one we'll see by Friday." She was amazed; he'd never looked happier since the day they'd become Rangers. He held out his hand, to which Kira mentally shrugged and reached out to take it, and together they walked out of the lab. For just a moment, the contact made her heart skip a beat, but almost immediately the feeling went away.

* * *

The kids had left and now Tommy was alone in the lab. He looked at the four standalone coins and the morpher sitting at the computer console. He sighed and decided to call Jason first. Going upstairs, he grabbed a cordless phone before flopping down on the couch and dialing Jason's number. It rang two and a half times before someone picked it up. "_Hello?_" Came a female voice.

"Trini, it's Tommy. Mind if I speak with Jason?"

"_Sure, no problem._" He heard some rustling and the sound of the phone being placed gently on the table. Then, Trini's voice rang out, "_Jason! Your boyfriend's on the phone!_"

Tommy's eye twitched slightly. What, exactly, did she mean by that? More rustling could be heard and a deeper voice said, "_Hey bro, what's up?_"

Tommy shook his head and answered, "You'll never guess what we just stumbled on being used by our new bad guy…" He waited but no answer came, so he continued, "The Black, Pink, Blue, and Yellow Power Coins."

This one got a reaction. "_Wait, how did they get ahold of them? Who is your bad guy, anyways? How were the coins being used?_"

"I have no idea, Jase. We also have no clue whose been attacking, though it's almost a Mesogog 2.0 so far this summer; whoever it is is using Tyrannodrones and making the same kind of amalgamated monsters that we used to see all the time. As for the coins… The Mastodon coin was used to power some factory before managing to blow the place up, while the other three were used as the three components of a monster; when the Rangers blew it up, all that remained were the coins." He paused to let his best friend absorb this information. "Bro, I gotta ask you… do you still have the Dragonzord coin?"

A moment's hesitation occurred before he answered. "_No, I left it in the Power Chamber when I came back. Zordon had enshrined the others and I felt it was only appropriate to do the same. Do you think the new evil dude now has it?_"

Tommy sighed and said, "Now I do; considering he managed to get the others, assuming they were in the same place together, he should have that one now. I shudder to think what he intends for it…" He actually did shudder right then, before getting to his last point, "You should probably carry your morpher with you from now on; he may come after you to get the Tyrannosaurus coin. I should also get these coins back to the other originals…"

"_You want me to call them all up and let them know you have them?_"

A good question; he replied, "I have to call Kim for another reason entirely, but if you could get ahold of Zach and Billy for me, I'd appreciate it."

Tommy heard Jason's laughter on the other end. Finally, he answered, "_Alright, I'll call them up after I get off the phone with you. Give Kimmy all your love now; later, bro._"

"Will do, man. Later." He hung up and then stopped to think for a moment. Finally realization dawned on him and he slapped his forehead. Had he really said that? Jason had to be cracking up by now.

After taking several minutes to compose himself, Tommy dialed Kimberly's number and waited. One ring, two rings, three… for just a moment, he didn't think she'd pick up; then he heard a sudden click and a feminine voice said, "_Hello?_"

He froze momentarily upon hearing her voice, then managed to say, "Hi Kim, it's Tommy…"

"_Tommy! It's been forever since I last heard from you! Not since that island exploded have you called._"

Tommy cringed, realizing it really had been that long. There was so much to catch up on… "Yeah, sorry for not contacting you more often; it's been a little busy around here. You heard that I was mentoring some new Rangers here in Reefside, yes?" He got an affirmative answer. "Well, my Yellow Ranger wants to meet you, since you both shared a zord, and the new Pink Ranger is also interested in meeting you. Think you could get some time off to come up for a visit?"

"_Hey, I thought you never found a Pink Gem! Where did it come from? Oh… um, I think I might be able to get some time off… maybe in a week? I'll have to call you back. Tell me more of what's going on._"

"Why don't I save most of that for your visit? It'll be much easier to explain everything in person rather than over the phone. Oh, and before I forget… I have something of yours. It's round, about 3 centimeters in diameter, and depicts a certain flying dinosaur…"

There was an audible pause on the other end before he heard something akin to squealing. "_You found my Power Coin! Where was it?_"

"Our bad guy got all four of them and was trying to use them against us. Fortunately Jason still has his, so they didn't get any more… Well, Conner's got me worried that they have the Dragonzord coin, so I'm still looking out for whatever they might use it for…" He sighed in slight frustration. "Anyways, when you make it up here, you can have it back… and once you have it, might I suggest carrying around your morpher? Whoever it is that's been attacking us and managed to find these originally might try to get them back; you'll want it on hand to protect yourself…"

"_Wait, how can I defend myself with that? Aren't they all powerless now?_"

"Nope. Somehow they've all managed to charge themselves up over time. I'll be carrying my Tigerzord coin from now on, too."

"_Alright… well, I have to go. You be careful out there, and I'll call you back in a couple days._"

"Bye, Kim. Talk to ya later." He hung up again and exhaled slowly. '_Well, that wasn't nearly the disaster it could have been…_' he thought.

* * *

"Cryz!" A raspy voice bellowed. She tentatively walked into the laboratory, unsure of what to expect from her master. "Bring me one of the remaining 'drones from the experimental factory; we're going to find out if some technology truly stands the test of time."

She bowed her head and disappeared out the door she entered through. Moments later, a Tyrannodrone walked in before her. She said, "This was the strongest among them, built shortly before it exploded. It has the highest power output we've ever encountered."

A grin broke against his face. "Good!" He handed the drone a small object and pointed to the chamber that was situated off to the side. He instructed, "Enter the fusion chamber; if my theories are correct, we shall indeed like the results!" The drone nodded and walked in, the door closing behind it. Power was fed into the machine and it fell into a fit of smoke and lights. Moments later the door opened and a figure walked out; it looked nothing like the 'drone that had walked in, now clad in a glittering green suit with white boots and gloves that had a green diamond pattern on them; holstered to the figure's left side was a green and black dagger with a unique pattern to its construction, and around its shoulders was what looked like a glittering golden breastplate; the helmet contained a darkened visor and gave a vague impression of a dragon's head. The man's eyes widened in sheer delight; he said, "Excellent! Now go, my faithful servant! Go to Angel Grove and bring me back that sleeping weapon of destruction from under the harbor!"

With a nod from the green figure, an Invisiportal was opened and it stepped through it, disappearing from the lab. Cryz faced her master and asked, "And what do we do in the meantime? Should we await their reappearance, or start causing trouble now?"

He took several long, nerve-wracking breaths before answering her. "Go with a detachment of the Super 'Drones. Keep them busy and tired so that when our surprise arrives, there will be no chance for them to fight back!"

* * *

After the hectic events of Wednesday, Thursday was shaping up to be almost pleasant. The kids were taking a chance to relax, and so were scattered across Reefside just doing their thing. Tommy, for his part, was doing some cleaning in the lab when he heard a noise coming from the computer. It wasn't an alarm as would be normal when an attack takes place, but was instead simply a warning that an Invisiportal had opened somewhere. He rushed over and check to find the location, but could find nothing on the scanners; whatever had gone through there hadn't been enough to keep it open. There was a detection, but it wasn't enough to record a location; not only that, but no signature for any of a monster, drone, or even Cryz could be found. He started to puzzle over it when a genuine alarm sounded.

"Ah, crap…" Tommy said as he pulled up an image of the disturbance. Cryz and some 'drones were harassing civilians in Reefside's mall. He punched up the combination needed to contact all five of the Rangers at once and said, "Guys, there's an attack at the mall! Get there quick, as Cryz and company are attack civilians!"

He heard various confirmations from all of them before the comm signal went dead. A small part of him envied the fact that they still rushed out to battle; his own sense of honor was yelling at him to get out there. '_This is their fight, now. I've had more than my fair share of this trade; time to let the kids shine._' He thought. Still, the morpher he could feel in his back pocket almost seemed to be burning, wanting to return to duty. He quashed the feeling as best as he could and settled into watching the fight in order to support them as best he could.

* * *

Cassidy was actually in the mall when it happened, though she was on the other side of where Cryz and the 'drones appeared. When she got the warning, she ducked into a service hallway and, after verifying that no people or cameras were about, morphed into the Pink Dino Thunder Ranger. She rushed out and found the commotion; they were causing general chaos on the first floor. Cassidy had an idea, however, and quickly made her way to some stairs; she would position herself on an overhead walkway and fire down at them with her bow. That way she would stay out of danger, but could pick off the drones one by one.

She drew her Stega Bow and started aiming down. The civilians had apparently all run away, so almost any shot would be a clear one. Her first arrow was met with confusion on both sides, as it staggered the 'drone she hit, but didn't drop it, and the 'drones were confused as to where it came from. Scowling that it didn't work like last time, she drew back and fired several times in succession , trying to take down as many of them as possible before having to close to melee range. Cryz finally looked up and saw the Pink Ranger. She pointed her sword to her and shouted, "There you are!" She punctuated this statement by loosing lightning from her sword. The 'drones all looked up and started jumping up to the overhang. Surprised, Cassidy yelped and dropped her bow, drawing her Thundermax Saber and tried to fend them off as they came.

For several minutes, she tried to defend herself, but she was quickly becoming overwhelmed. She heard sounds of a struggle coming from the first floor and then the slice of laser fire as a few Tyrannodrones fell around her. Looking up, she saw the Blue and Green Rangers aiming their lasers in her direction. She ran to join them, saying, "'Bout time you guys got here! These guys are tougher than before; I needed several arrows to take one out."

Devin put a hand on her shoulder and said, "You did good, Cass. Now let's finish these guys off so we can go help Conner and Kira." Cassidy looked over the railing briefly and saw the Red and Yellow Rangers trying to fend off Cryz and the remaining 'Drones on the first floor.

Kira was fighting with Saber in hand as she swung at and blocked Cryz. Conner was attempting to dispatch the 'drones around them, but was finding it a little more difficult than before. After taking a few too many unblockable blows, he finally got tired of it. Growling, he threw his staff to the ground and said, "I've had enough of these things… Super Dino Mode!" The diamond patterns on his uniform grew into boney protrusions; he could feel a wellspring of power flowing through himself. Using a fierce combination of kicks, punches, and slices from the spikes he dropped all of the drones. Now standing alone, he disengaged the extra power and drew his own Saber to join Kira in her attack.

Kira was a little exhausted from keeping her defenses up throughout her battle with Cryz, so started to hang back. Conner said nothing about it, so she took a slight opportunity to rest. Cryz appeared to be on the ropes from Conner's renewed attack, and attempted to break away, but the Red Ranger wouldn't have any part of it; he ran after her and continued his attack. Cryz spun around and raised her blade; crackling electricity appeared to be gathering for a monumental point-blank blast aimed at her direct adversary. For a split second fear coursed through Kira's veins, and she reacted at some instinctual level; she changed her Saber into Laser Form and snapped a shot off at the sword. A miniature explosion rocked the mall and sent both Conner and Cryz sprawling in opposite directions.

When the smoke cleared, in the same location as the two were standing before was a strange purple-ish… hole. That's the closest thing Kira could approximate it to. Not taking her eyes off of it, she walked over to offer Conner a hand up, which he gladly accepted. The other three had joined them at this time and Ethan said, "What the heck was that?"

Conner shook his head, to which Kira answered, "I don't really know; it looked like a reaction between the energy Cryz was putting into her sword and my laser… But as to what that…" she pointed towards the now faintly pulsating hole in the universe, "is, I have no idea."

The pulsating glow started building in intensity, and with a flash of light it was gone; in its place were two figures sprawled on the ground. They stood up warily and the Rangers gaped at who it looked like. They jogged over to them; Conner said, "Trent…? Dr. Oliver?"

The two figures looked at them him without saying anything. Finally, the one in the white suit said, "Since when were there a Pink and Green one? What kind of trick is this?"

The one in the black suit answered him, "I have no idea what you're talking about… What did you call me? Dr. Oliver?" He looked at the Rangers in turn and said, "Are you three not Ryouga, Ranru, and Yukito? Who are these other two? Ryuunnosuke? Emily?"

A voice pierced the scene; they had forgotten about Cryz in the confusion. "More Rangers? How many of you are there? My master will not be pleased…" She summoned an Invisiportal and left the mall.

Ethan said, "I guess this isn't a plot by the bad guy."

"Guess not." Said Conner. He brought his morpher up to his helmet and said, "We've got a problem, Doctor O. It looks like a Black and a White Dino Ranger just showed up here, but we have no clue who they are. Should we bring them in?"

The two new Rangers looked amazed as an answer was issued from the device. "_I can see that. Go ahead and bring them in. We can question them when you get back._"

Conner nodded and looked up to them. "I'm going to have to ask you two to come with me. Something is very weird here, and we need to figure out as much of it as possible."

The Black Ranger just shrugged, but the White Ranger took a step back and drew his feather-like dagger from the holster; he held it in front of him and said, "I'm not going anywhere with you." He looked about to attack when his suit started sparking and causing him to stagger. He shouted, "No! Not now!" Sheathing the weapon, he ran out of the mall.

The five Rangers blinked in confusion at that scene. The Black Ranger turned back to them and said, "The Zero Suit is too unstable to be used; how he hasn't blown up by now, I don't know…"

Cassidy turned to Conner and asked, "Should we let him stay loose in the city? I think more than his suit is a little unstable…"

Conner frowned under his helmet and said, "I don't think we have a choice. I have no idea where he would go, nor do I know a way of tracking him…"

Kira place a hand on his shoulder and said, "We'll find him later; for now we should bring this one with us to try to find out what exactly is going on."

He nodded in response and said, "Come on, we'll introduce you to yourself." This earned him a slap on the arm from the Yellow Ranger, to which he chuckled. They left the mall mostly intact, though the blast mark from the explosion would take a few days of scrubbing to clean.

* * *

The six Rangers walked into the lab under Tommy's house through the forest entrance. One by one, the five teenagers powered down and found places to sit around the lab. Tommy stood with folded arms as the newcomer marveled at the place he had been brought to. Tommy said, "Welcome to the Dino Lab. My name is Dr. Tommy Oliver and I'm the former Black Dino Thunder Ranger." He pointed to each of the kids in turn as he identified them. "Conner McKnight in Red, Kira Ford in Yellow, Ethan James in Blue, Cassidy Cornell in Pink, and Devin Del Valle in Green." He watched as the strange Ranger looked to each of them. Shaking his head, he said, "We've trusted you with our identities. Please demorph and tell us who you are."

He looked confused for a second before he suddenly realized what was being asked of him. Wordlessly he made his suit disappear from around himself; in place of the Black Ranger stood a man of average height with short, unkempt looking black hair. What made him distinctive, however, was a pair of markings on either of his cheeks; they were white and looked like claw marks. He bowed slightly and said, "My name is Asuka; I am from Dino Earth… how is it that you have the Dino Minders? And where did the ones for Pink and Green come from? My people never made those…"

It was Tommy's turn to look confused momentarily before determining what he was talking about. "Oh, you mean the morphers? I made them. They're supposed to channel the power of these Dino Gems." He pointed to the Gem around his neck. "I found the Red, Yellow, and Blue ones at a dig site and discovered the power they had, so I came up with a way to harness the power; That's how these first three became Power Rangers."

"Power Rangers?" Asuka asked. "It sounds similar, but I've never heard of them. Emily came up with the name for us when I first gave the Dino Minders to Ryouga and the others… She called us Burstosaur Squadron Abaranger."

Conner looked up to him. "You said you came from… Dino Earth? What exactly is that?"

"This earth that you live in is called Another Earth to us. When the meteor crashed into the earth millions of years ago, you all thought it wiped out the dinosaurs, when in fact it actually split the earth in two: Another Earth where there are no more dinosaurs, and Dino Earth, where they survived. In the millions of years since then my people, the Dragonoids, evolved, as did the Burstosaurs; we live in a symbiotic relationship with them, and struggle against a common enemy: the Evorians and their evil god Dezumozorya. The Evorians are trying to revive their god, and are searching for something to do this; they destroyed Dino Earth in their search and they will do the same to Another soon if we don't stop them."

Conner stood up and activated his morpher, presenting it to Asuka. He said, "You say that your people made these, and that there isn't one for a Green or Pink Ranger?"

He nodded and said, "I brought them with me when I went chasing down the Anamolicarus spaceship as it took the Tyranno, Kera, and Ptera Burstosaurs with it to begin attacking Another Earth. I searched for days to find the right ones with Dino Guts to use them. At first the ones that I found were not able to handle the transformation…"

Ethan interrupted, "Were those the Ryuunnosuke and Emily you mentioned before?"

"Yes, exactly. Fortunately, Yukito and Ranru appeared and were able to tame their Burstosaurs." Conner, Kira, and Ethan all smiled as they remembered doing the same thing on their first day as Rangers. "Tyranno, however, continued his rampage; had Ryouga not suddenly showed up and taken the last Dino Minder, we may not even be here, as Tyranno is needed to create Abaren-o." While the terminology was a little different, the general idea was the same; for the most part, the Rangers were able to understand what he meant.

Tommy brought one of the most pressing issues to the forefront. "What of that White Ranger that showed up with you? Who is he, and why did he run off?"

"Ah, that was Abare Killer; he somehow got ahold of the Prototype Dino Minder and is in control of TopGaler. That Dino Minder is dangerous, though… its power source is unstable and can only handle so many transformations before it blows up. The fact that he's used it so much with it doing so baffles me a little. As for who he is… His name is Dr. Mikoto Nakadai. Ryouga thinks he's the doctor that saved his life when the Burstosaurs first attacked Another Earth."

"I take it he's not exactly one of your friends?"

Asuka shook his head. "Ryouga keeps trying to befriend him and has invited him to stay with us in the Dino House, but he has continuously refused, and usually attacks him in return." Kira laughed internally, as that was about the exact opposite reaction to a White Rangers' presence as Conner had to Trent; Conner never really trusted the boy, even after he really had conquered the evil… Though she supposed that he was right to be a little wary, as Trent had tricked them before… On the other hand, perhaps his hate and distrust were for other reasons…

"Alright," Tommy started, "you can either stay here with me for today, or you can join the rest of them. You appear to be a little older than them… Maybe tewnty years old?" Asuka nodded at the approximation. "I don't think it would look too strange to be hanging out with them, if you want. It's up to you."

Asuka looked over at them and appeared to have questions in his eyes. Conner looked to his teammates and said, "I figured we'd head over to the café and get some celebratory smoothies. You're welcome to join us." He smiled at the invitation and accepted.

They were on their way out the house entrance when Tommy called up to them, "Oh, and I don't know about the world you just came from, but here Rangers need to keep their identities a secret; you can't tell anyone that you're Abare Black! Try to conceal your morpher as well, as that's a pretty identifiable device."

* * *

It was still mid afternoon, and the crowd in Hayley's Cyberspace café was a relatively small one. The group of six Rangers was seated around the table that they usually occupied. Hayley had watched the whole thing from the back and had been informed by Tommy that under mysterious circumstances there were new Black and White Rangers in Reefside, and that the others were bringing Asuka with them to the café. She had taken the opportunity to meet him and could see the determination on his face; whatever the conflict was where he came from, he certainly seemed to have something to fight for.

"I'm a little surprised you have to keep your identities a secret." Asuka commented in a low tone. "We've never done that, and most of the city seems to know who we are. What's the reason it's so important?"

"Well," Conner started, "For one thing, according to Dr. Oliver, it was one of the rules handed down to him on his first time through as a Ranger. His mentor, Zordon of Eltar, handed down three rules to him and the other five originals: never reveal their secret identities; never escalate a battle; never use the powers for personal gain. He taught those same rules to us the first day we became Rangers, and it's just become second nature to follow them. Then there's the fact that if anybody knew we were the Rangers, we'd never have a moments rest; the Rangers are famous and there'd be a ton of obsessed people that would want to stick around us all the time, ranging from those that want autographs to people that might want to kill one of us just to be able to take a piece of us home…" He shuddered at that last thought and almost couldn't believe he thought up that example.

Asuka was satisfied enough with that answer that he chose not pursue any part that he had additional questions about. They continued talking quietly about different things, telling about each others' lives and becoming familiar with one another. Asuka talked of his world and the personalities of his teammates, marveling at how different these three were to the three he knew. He said, "I have to wonder why your Dr. Oliver was worried about the difference in ages?"

Devin answered, "Well, we are still in high school; none of us are even eighteen yet. You said you're twenty? That's not too much older, and around here you may be able to pass for younger."

"High school?" Asuka asked. "Emiliy is still in high school, and she practically lives at Dino House Curry." He thought about it for a moment and continued, "And that doesn't even take into account Ryouga's daughter."

Conner choked on his drink and Kira sputtered for a moment before saying, "D-daughter? Your Red Ranger has a kid?"

Asuka frowned slightly and appeared to be concentrating for a moment. "Well, I suppose she's really his niece, but from what I've been told she lost both of her parents at a really young age and has mostly associated Ryouga as her father, and he treats her like his daughter, so it kind of stuck in my head like it was…"

The Rangers collectively "ah'd" and nodded in understanding, though Conner was mostly just looking lost in thought. At some point while they had been talking, Hayley had taken off for the back room and had been replaced by her employee. Noticing a break in the conversation she walked over and said, "Hi, you're new here! I'm Jen."

Kira rolled her eyes and looked over at Conner. He hadn't reacted, so she pushed his shoulder, which caused him to start; he looked up at what was going on and the expectant stares of his teammates. He said, "Oh, uh… hey Jen. This is Asuka; I stumbled on him wandering the city a little lost. You could say he's a tourist, and I've offered to show him around the city; this was just our latest stop."

She held out her hand, to which Asuka just stared at it for a moment. After a few tense seconds he remembered the custom and shook her hand. She smiled back at him as he let go and returned to work. Cassidy commented, "I think Jen gets weirder every time we see her."

The table agreed and once more they descended into quiet conversation with one another.

* * *

The stranger was wandering the downtown, unsure of where he should go. He obviously wasn't anywhere near his home, and every person he demanded directions from had no idea where he wanted to go. He'd settle for finding the Dino House if it meant knowing where he was! He had stopped in his wandering to regard the device on his left wrist. He'd even tried consulting TopGaler, but it hadn't answered him, which actually had him ever so slightly worried about the situation he was in. A sound and a flash of light got his attention, and standing in front of him now was a woman in black leather with a slim sword sheathed at her belt. He stared at her blankly and waited for her to speak.

"You were a hard one to track down. Whatever you use to transform doesn't use a Gem; my master wants a word with you." She said.

He sneered, "And what does this master want with me?"

"He has an offer for you. You seem to have great power, and you don't seem to like the other Rangers; you are precisely the type my master wants around himself."

The man huffed a little, but then shrugged. Considering he had no idea where else to go, might as well go see if this "master" of hers would be worth getting help from. If not, well… he'd just eliminate him and keep going.

They walked through the Invisiportal together and found themselves standing in the main laboratory of the base. The man looked around him and spotted the only other person in the room. He approached him and regarded the woman's master; he was vaguely humanoid, but was decidedly reptilian, with ridged scales all over his body and clawed hands. He was clad in a loose fitting black outfit that was tied together at the waist. It spoke to him in a raspy whisper. "Who are you, that is a Ranger but also would fight against them?"

He smirked at the creature before answering, "I'm Dr. Mikoto Nakadai, but you will call me Abare Killer. You are not my master, so who are you to me?"

The creature let out a chuckle and in a breathy exhale said, "You may call me… Mesogog."


	12. Taming of the Dragon

**Author's Notes**: While the majority of this was written over the course of a few days, the last part was all written today, on the upload date, and more importantly on my birthday. I'd have had it done sooner had my mother and grandmother not come over to take me out to eat and to take me shopping. But enough about stuff that has nothing to do with the story!

I'm using Burstosaur Change as the morphing call instead of what the sub called it from the translated show, as _Bakuryuu_ apparently literally means something along the lines of _Burstosaur_. So when they shout _Bakuryuu Change_ they are indeed saying _Burstosaur Change_ instead of _Dino Transform_. I really hope you all enjoy how I handled this, as it took a lot of effort to both remember how things went in all of the original series, the Japanese _Kyoryuu Sentai Zyuranger_, this Dino Thunder series, and the Japanese _Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger_. As usual, please leave all comments and complaints in the review box!

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban. Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. _Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger_ is owned by Toei. I only own the story and words, as well as the characters of Cryz and Jen… maybe a small amount of Mesogog now, too…

* * *

The remainder of Thursday went by uneventfully; Asuka returned to Dr. Oliver's home for the night, having no American currency with which to put himself up at a hotel. Friday morning, however, was going to be something else…

* * *

Dr. Oliver was filling Asuka in on some Ranger History that morning, since it seemed safe enough to show it to him. He marveled at the imagery and provided comparative commentary on the other Ranger Squadrons that he'd heard about from his own world. They were interrupted by what had been identified as the natural disaster alarm; from what Tommy could tell there seemed to be a series of local earthquakes far outside of the city where Hayley's surveillance equipment could not capture imagery of it. Pressing a couple of buttons on the keyboard, he sent a general alert to his Rangers which was basically designed to signal them to come to the lab. Asuka asked, "Does this happen often?"

He shook his head. "No, I can't think of anything natural that could be causing that to happen. I just sent out a signal to get the other Rangers in here, in case they need to rush out that far out of town… They'll need the cycles to get there, so they need to be here before heading out."

About ten minutes later, the five Rangers and Angela all filed into the basement. Conner stepped forward and asked, "What've we got?"

Tommy pointed up to the screen showing the moving disturbance and said, "Something is causing mini-earthquakes outside of town, but it's slowly travelling towards the city. Whatever it is, I wanted you guys here in case you had to go that far out."

Conned nodded in agreement just as the regular alarm went off. Dr. Oliver punched up a few keys and found Abare Killer and Cryz downtown with a dozen Tyrannodrones. He turned around and said, "Go on, and take the cycles; I'll inform you of any changes with that thing outside of town."

The five took their positions and in unison shouted, "Dino Thunder, Power Up, Hah!" A moment later the five currently active Dino Thunder Power Rangers were standing fully suited up in Tommy Oliver's basement.

Asuka looked to them apprehensively. Conner looked to him and asked, "You coming?"

He replied, "Er, yes… it's just kind of weird for me because we always went to the site of the problem and transformed there…" Conner shrugged in response, which only slightly calmed Asuka's nerves. He retrieved the device that turned into a key-like object and performed similar hand motions as Dr. Oliver used to when he was the Black Ranger; instead of the morphing call that the others had, he shouted, "Burstosaur change!" After a moment the transformation was complete and Abare Black was standing in place of Asuka. He looked prepared to announce something or pose, but then quickly stopped himself.

Ignoring the strange actions, Tommy said, "Ride with Devin; there's enough room on the ATVs for at least two people, plus the green one used to be black." He smirked as he said this and Asuka only nodded in reply. They all headed off to the Cycle bay and climbed onto their respective vehicles; they sped out of the lab unaware of exactly what was in store for them.

* * *

They arrived on the scene a short time later; hopping off the bikes they took up positions forming a line in front of the enemy. Asuka shouted, "Dr. Nakadai! What are you doing with them? Why do you continue to attack us?" He said nothing in return and simply stood in that insufferable pose with the feather-dagger on his shoulder. Asuka had had enough and charged in, ignoring Conner's protests.

Cryz smiled and pointed her sword towards the heroes, yelling out, "Attack!" The 'drones charged forward and the remaining five Rangers drew their various weapons and took up defensive positions.

Conner took in the situation and devised a plan. "Ethan, Devin, run interference while Cassidy picks off the 'drones. Kira, with me; we're gonna keep Cryz busy so she can't blindside Asuka." They nodded in response and took up positions; The Red and Yellow Rangers ran forward, Kira drawing her laser and taking a few potshots at passing 'drones while Conner spun his staff in front of himself to clear their path. Once they were through, Conner engaged Cryz, staff to sword. Kira circled around and continued taking shots with her Thundermax Laser when she could; in only a minute she had scorch marks all over her leather armor. Seeing an opportunity, Kira summoned her daggers and rushed in under one of Conner's high swings and slashed furiously at the spots she'd shot before. Cryz stumbled backwards and fell, apparently unconscious.

Abare Black and Abare Killer were in fierce close combat throughout this, though Dr. Nakadai's higher speed and stronger abilities were getting the better of Asuka. For a split second he saw an opening and took it; holding his baton-like weapon upside-down, he turned the handle and shouted, "Dino Rocket! Hellflame!" He then jammed the weapon to the ground and a torrent of flames burst from the weapon, engulfing Abare Killer. He struggled against the assault until it was over, but was still standing when it was over. Asuka found himself backing away; the others had dispatched their adversaries and were gathered behind him.

Any further combat was put on hold as the ground rumbled beneath them. The six Rangers looked around them trying to figure out what was causing it, but Abare Killer simply laughed. He said, "Ah yes, here it comes. Compliments of Mesogog; may I present to you your new adversary, Dragon Caesar!" He gestured off in the distance where one could see a giant lumbering form.

After a few minutes, it came into full view, and Ethan gasped. Facing the others, he said, "That's the Dragonzord! Dr. Oliver's first zord! But… who's piloting it? How'd it get here?"

His questions went unanswered from the others. They were split on what to do; they didn't want to destroy the Dragonzord since it was once owned by their mentor, but they had to protect themselves and the city. Conner brought his morpher up to his helmet and said, "Dr. Oliver? What should we do?"

"_Sorry, but he left in a hurry once he saw what was causing the disturbance._" Came Angela's voice. "_I'd suggest you take it out; you have a duty to perform, and Dr. Oliver's feelings should be among your least worries._"

Conner was about to do just that when Dr. Oliver's jeep came skidding to a stop behind them. He stepped out of the vehicle and walked up to them, saying, "Get to the zords and take him out; I was hoping he could sleep in peace now that he wasn't needed, but it seems that was too much to hope for. Remove it, and I'll take care of Killer over here…"

Not wanting to argue, Conner once again brought his morpher up; the Tyranno head changed to the Brachio head. He cried out, "Brachio!"

A deep rumbling voice was emitted from the moprher. "_From the world of dreams, the slumbering giant awakens._" Conner looked to each of the other Rangers and Dr. Oliver; they all shrugged in response.

Asuka, though looked confused; he said, "How do you summon Brachio? He's my partner!"

The Red Ranger looked at him and said, "Dr. Oliver gave each of us the ability to summon him, now that he's retired from being a Dino Thunder Ranger, just like Cassidy can summon both the Stegozord and Dregozord." He pulled out the Shield of Triumph and handed it to Devin. "Alright guys, this one's going to be tough; we'll need all three megazords to take it out, probably." They all jumped into their respective zords and transformed them together to take on their opponent.

Asuka looked to Dr. Oliver and asked, "What about you? You said you would take care of Dr. Nakadai…"

Tommy smiled and said, "You got that right; I don't know how he's controlling the Dragonzord, but I intend to stop him…" He reached behind his back and shouted, "It's morphin' time!" Withdrawing his old morpher from his back pocket he thrust it out in front of him and turned it 180 degrees, calling out, "Tigerzord!" The device appeared to _open_ by seemingly splitting into two halves, and in a flash of brilliant white light the original White Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger was standing in Dr. Oliver's place.

The suit was colored a glittering white, with golden wristbands, anklets, and thin golden armbands; rather than the morpher there was a pattern on his belt buckle, and a piece of armor, like a dark golden squared-off breastplate, adorned his shoulders. Inset in the armor was the symbol of the Tiger. Abare Killer looked at him and snorted. "What foolishness would bring Kibaranger to us? I thought you were a small child, or perhaps you would have become a young teenager by now, but not someone closer to my own age like you seem to be."

Tommy paid him no attention. A noise emanated from his side like a yawn; he drew his saber and faced the tiger head towards him. It spoke. "What is this? Who summons me?" It opened its eyes and took in the sight before it. "What the… Tommy? Is that you?"

"In the suit, old friend." He faced Saba out towards Abare Killer. "What do you say we take out that imposter over there?"

Tommy charged and began combat with Dr. Nakadai. They clashed and traded blows for several minutes, neither side getting the advantage over the other. Finally, the White Ranger was able to score a few hits on Abare Killer, causing him to stagger backwards. Sparks were emitted from the morpher on his left wrist and electricity played over his suit. He shouted, "No! Why does the power leave me like this!" In the distance, he could hear a melody that he hadn't heard in years; it sounded slightly different, like the octave was wrong, or it was slower than he remembered, but it mattered not. Following the sound to a tall building, he broke away from the fight and took off running towards it, bounding skywards once he reached the building in question. Tommy gave chase and found something he never thought he would see again: his old Mighty Morphin' Green Ranger suit being worn by someone; he was playing the Dragon Dagger, which explains how his old friend the Dragonzord managed to make it to Reefside. Abare Killer reached for the device on the Green Ranger's belt and took it right off, causing him to lose his morph; standing in the place of the Green Ranger was a Tyrannodrone, looking extremely confused as to what just happened. Abare Killer took his feather-like sword and slashed the 'drone, destroying it in one blow, and promptly lost his morph. Now holding a morpher which contained the Dragonzord power coin, he said, "Please stop me if you've heard this one before…" He held the device in his hands and thrust it forward, turning it 180 degrees as Tommy had just done earlier to morph into the White Tiger Ranger; he shouted, "Dino Buckler!"

* * *

All three of the Thundersaurus Megazord, Dino Stegazord, and Mezodon Megazord formed up in a line in front of the Dragonzord. A repetitive melody could be heard, but none of them could place where it was coming from. From within the cockpit, Conner asked, "Does anybody remember any of the weaknesses of this thing?"

"It runs on solar power." Ethan answered. "How that helps, though, since it's daylight out right now…"

"It's not piloted from the inside…" Kira started. "But I can't remember what, specifically, controls it. If we find that, though, we should be able to take it out without destroying it."

"Let's leave that up to Asuka and Dr. Oliver, 'cause here it comes!"

Sure enough, the Dragonzord let out a screech and charged the trio of megazords, causing them to scatter; the Dino Stegazord was the unlucky one to wind up in direct combat. They locked hands and tried to push each other away, but only managed to cause each other to stay in place. The other two attempted to get close in order to get some free attacks in, but the tail would flail in their directions whenever they tried.

A different tune was heard, and the Dragonzord disengaged its attack and backed up; it held its hands taut and several missiles were shot out of the fingertips, catching all three mecha and forcing them backwards. Again, the tune played and again, more missiles. They did their best to block or divert them, but despite their efforts, several hits were scored against them.

The music suddenly stopped, and the missiles stopped coming. While the Dragonzord still appeared ready to fight, it was no longer actively battling them. Then they were treated to a different kind of light show; the Dragonzord appeared to glow brilliantly for a moment, then its eyes flashed the deepest red they'd ever seen. Its tail lashed several times, and then it leaned back and propped itself up on its tail; with a great cry, it launched itself in their direction, bowling all three of them over. Once they were down, the end of the tail appeared to be spinning and started whipping out at the megazords. They did their best to roll out of the way before getting hit and staggered back to their feet.

"_Hey Kira?_" Cassidy's voice rang out within the cockpit of the Thundersaurus Megazord. "_I think close range attacks aren't working; why don't we get Devin to keep him busy while we prepare some ranged attacks?_"

Kira looked to Conner, who nodded, and then said, "Sounds like a plan. You take the front, I'll take the back?"

"_I like how you think. Let's do it!_"

The Mezodon Megazord squared off against the Dragonzord with both axes prepared to accept whatever attacks it preferred to throw at it. With speed not thought possible of the huge machine it charged at the lone mecha, swiping and biting as it attacked. Devin tried his best to fend it off but was quickly losing ground. The other two were in position, however, and at the command from Cassidy he directed the Mezodon Megazord as far out of the way as possible.

Simultaneously, the Dino Stegazord launched its stinger-like missile at the Dragonzords front said as the Thundersaurus Megazord launched the Pterarang. Devin transformed the Megazord back into Rover form and ran out of there as quickly as possible, escaping both of the attacks. The Dragonzord tried to catch the stinger weapon, which caused it to hold still long enough to have its tail cut off by the Pterarang.

Now tailless, where before it had it as a counterbalance to the rest of its weight and size, the Dragonzord lost its ability to stand up straight and fell backwards. With the Dragonzord now disabled, the five Rangers jumped out of their zords in time to see a battle between what looked like both the Green and White Might Morphin' Power Rangers.

Ethan looked up at Conner and asked, "Which one's which? He was both at one time."

Conner shook his head and said, "Probably in white, since that's the coin he had, but he might've recovered the green coin too. Something happened to his old zord halfway through the fight, so I can't really tell you…"

* * *

Tommy couldn't believe his eyes. Somehow the man from another world managed to use his old morpher and Power Coin to become the Green Ranger using a command he'd never heard before. In that same instant, the Dragonzord began fighting on its own without a tune to command it. Whatever power this stranger had, it rivaled anything he'd seen from Zordon or Lord Zedd or anybody else he'd ever met, save for perhaps Lerigot and his wife, as he didn't actually know the extent of their power.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to fight?" The now Green Ranger said as he drew the Dragon Dagger and brought it up to a ready position.

Tommy was furious. This made the third time the Green Ranger powers were used for the forces of evil. He had to put a stop to it. The White Ranger powers were designed to be the ultimate powers of good for the Rangers, and thus were stronger in comparison to all of the rest of them, even those of the Green Ranger. He had both power and skill over his opponent, so when he charged, it didn't take long for Dr. Nakadai to be dispatched. Under great protest, Tommy literally _cut_ the morpher out of his belt, leaving the imposter ranger without his suit. He heard cheering from a location further away and looked up to see his team. They rushed up to him to congratulate him. He powered down and walked over to the crumpled form of his opponent. Reaching down he felt for a pulse and found a strong one; something else must have caused him to pass out. Asuka had made it up to where this battle took place and said, "What are we going to do with him? We can't let him run free, and I honestly don't trust him to not use his powers if he wakes up."

"Let's take him back to the lab; we'll tie him up there while we try to find a way to send you two back to wherever you're from." Tommy answered him. He turned to his Rangers and said, "Ride with Cassidy; Devin can take the unconscious doctor here. I'll drive myself home and meet you there." They all nodded in response and headed out.

* * *

Once they were all back and Dr. Nakadai was tied to a chair, the Rangers all gathered in Tommy's living room to discuss the fight. Conner said, "You heard him, right? He said Dr. Oliver's old zord was 'compliments of Mesogog.' How is that possible? I thought we destroyed Mesogog."

Devin appeared to be in deep thought about this; he said, "Are you sure it was a real message? What if that guy was just trying to confuse us?"

Kira shook her head. "This guy isn't even from our reality; he has no idea who Mesogog is. Their villain is an unrevived god from a different earth than them. There shouldn't be a way for him to give this message unless it's genuine."

Cassidy sighed. "The only question, then, is who exactly was it that gave him that message? Was it Mesogog, or someone trying to trick us into _thinking_ that it's Mesogog we're fighting?"

"What could they possibly gain by tricking us, though?" Conner asked.

"Make us second guess our own power?" Ethan ventured.

"Maybe trick us into thinking he's immortal?" Kira tried.

"The more you think about it though…" Cassidy started.

"…The less it sounds like a trick." Devin finished.

They heard several bangs from downstairs, as well as the power appearing to flicker off, then back on as a generator kicked in, recognizable by the humming sound associated with it. They all looked to each other before rushing downstairs to find out what the commotion was all about. Once downstairs, they saw a machine billowing black smoke, but next to it appeared to be a hole in the universe.

"Whoa, what caused that?" Ethan asked.

Tommy got up off the floor and brushed some soot off of his clothes. He said, "We found which dimension to send them to; it was just a matter of using enough power to simulate the hole that was opened up at the mall… I think we succeeded."

Asuka smiled and said, "Thank you, Dr. Oliver, for all your help. Maybe we shall meet again one day; I might have the chance to show my world… or perhaps I should say my worlds?" He walked over to each of the Rangers and shook their hands one by one. He said, "It was exciting working with you. Thank you for all your help." He untied the still unconscious Dr. Nakadai and attempted to heft him up over his shoulder.

Suddenly, as though this was precisely the moment he'd been waiting for, Dr. Nakadai shoved away from Asuka and brought his left arm up. He said, "Burstosaur Change," and transformed into Abare Killer. It caught everyone by surprise, and they began to get into defensive stances, but to their even greater surprise he broke for the opened portal. In a flash of light, he disappeared. Asuka's eyes widened, and in an instant he transformed as well, charging after him. In an even more brilliant flash, the gateway to the other world closed behind them.

Conner looked over to his mentor and said, "Well, that was strange." Tommy shrugged in response.

Angela brought up an image of the still defeated Dragonzord and said, "What are we going to do about that? I have no idea how we're going to remove it from the downtown area…"

Dr. Oliver looked at the Green Ranger's morpher and said, "I have an idea…"

* * *

Tommy Oliver stood off in a secluded portion of Reefside, eyes closed and breathing steady. In one smooth motion, he brought his hand behind and back and calmly said, "It's morphin' time." Bringing his hand forward, he gripped the morpher with the other hand and turned them both 180 degrees. He once more said that word which he never again had wanted to utter as a command for the rest of his life. "Dragonzord." In a flash of light, he once again stood tall in the gleaming Green Ranger suit.

Stepping out of the alley, he jumped up onto the nearest building and saw the sight of his first zord sprawled on the ground, struggling to try and get up. He lifted the Dragon Dagger to the mouth portion of his helmet and began playing that tune he had played hundreds of times before when battling Rita and Zedd. The Dragonzord stopped struggling and listened to the tune; Tommy stopped and changed the tune to a second one which was normally only used in the heat of battle, rather than to call it up from the depths. The Green Ranger suddenly started glowing a dull green; slowly it built in intensity as he played, until he was glowing brightly. Suddenly, a beam of green shot out and intersected the Dragonzord. It seemed to dissolve together with its tail, and then reform into a whole machine. Tommy jumped down to the ground and lost his morph, though he was still holding the Dragon Dagger. Once again, Tommy changed the tune, this time to a composition he had wrote as the Green Ranger so long ago. It was a soft flute sound, which could only be accomplished when not playing it morphed. After screeching several times, the Dragonzord turned and lumbered back in the direction of the ocean, to once again return to his dormant state.

"Sleep well, old friend, and hope that you will never again be needed."


	13. Battles of the Mind

**Author's Notes**: This chapter took well on forever to get around to being written! I had a general idea of what I wanted to happen, but as usual it was the small details that snagged me. I wanted this written a week ago, but as things go, I simply couldn't get started on it. Finally I managed to get a beginning to it last night and banged out over 4,000 words on the overnight. Yeah, I pulled an all-nighter, mostly because I was monitoring some video uploads, but I felt like doing some writing while I was at it and I finally got this started. The rest of it I managed to craft while at work today, though how I managed it being this tired, I haven't a clue. Anyways, as per the usual, please leave all comments and complaints in the review box. Actually, leave anything in the review box, as the actual number of them have been dwindling recently in both of my PRDT stories…

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban. Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. I only own the words and the story, as well as characters such as Cryz and Jen, and some small portions of our favorite PRDT villain.

* * *

Cryz paused behind the door to the central chamber; her master was certainly not pleased with the way things had turned out, and she feared reporting back to him. Screwing up her courage as best as she could, she opened the door and strode in. He regarded her with a blank expression for several long seconds before saying in a low raspy voice, "Report."

She took a deep breath and said, "Abare Killer was defeated, along with your Green Ranger Drone. Dr. Oliver took back the Dragonzord Coin and sent the machine back to the ocean. It also seems that both of the Black and White Rangers have left our dimension; I wasn't able to detect them anymore on the scanners."

Her master continued to stare at her for awhile yet, then stood up and walked slowly towards her. She flinched as he stopped in front of her and raised a scaly claw to her cheek. "This was not your failure; if I ever get my hands on Abare Killer, he shall wish he had never been born." He turned around and took a few paces away. "We need a new strategy… something to break these Rangers up. An old idea of Elsa's is a good starting place… but using monsters that are easily defeated was not a wise choice. No… isolating and terrorizing them isn't the way, but a more subtle means should work…" He begun laughing, which caused Cryz to shiver; she knew which plan he was referring to, though, and moved to make the preparations for it.

* * *

It was a strange sensation, not entirely unlike floating; the only problem with that comparison is that he didn't appear to have a corporeal body. Try as he might, he couldn't turn to look in any particular direction, nor could he reach out to feel for anything. The entirety of his being was like nothingness, and time didn't appear to exist.

Only the sensation changed, and everything felt very much colder than before. That's not to say that the feeling was warm at first, but that there was no concept of heat or cold before then. How he felt cold, he couldn't say, as there were no limbs or even a body with which to feel it, but it was all the same. It was an unnatural cold; he had no idea why, but he could just tell that it was. He feared the cold and what it could bring, but knew of no way to stave it off or escape from it.

Something then accompanied the cold; he couldn't identify the feeling at first, but he knew he didn't like it. It was as if in one moment he had everything in the world at his fingertips, and in the next minute it was taken away. It was an emptiness like none other felt before; what made it worse was that it wasn't the feeling of having a space in your soul that you need filled so much as having a previously filled spot being completely robbed and left empty. It was maddening, having something so precious and close to himself stolen away so completely.

As if the cold and loss weren't enough, a final sensation crept over him. Up until this point he still felt as though he could get some of that back; as if there were some way to recover what was lost. This changed as the hopelessness washed over him. In that moment, he genuinely wished he could die to make the feeling go away, but with no apparent body to act against, all he could do was try to will it to happen. As if to mock him, though, and try as he might, no further change came to him, leaving him with nothing but his feelings of loss and despair.

* * *

She, on the other hand, was enjoying herself immensely; she was on stage singing her heart out for a roaring crowd of thousands of people. She looked the same as she always did for a concert, even for one held at the cybercafé; she could vividly remember the previous evening where not only had she done the opening performance but also won a Grammy Award. Now, doing what she loved the best, she thought she couldn't be happier.

The song had just ended; it was a break in the performance. She began walking off the stage behind the curtain. Standing there with one of the biggest smiles on his face was none other than the one she loved: Conner McKnight. She paused though, as she was sure she had done this exact same thing at least once before and it wasn't Conner standing there. She puzzled over it for only a few seconds, because right now it didn't really matter to her who it was so long as she could share the moment with him. She ran into his embrace and leaned up into the most passionate liplock she had ever encountered before; it had felt like it lasted well longer than it really must have, but she didn't mind in the least. When it was over, the two of them stood apart and about arms length.

He continued smiling down to her, even as the Tyrannodrone crept up behind him. Before she could shout out a warning the 'drone drew back its arm and thrust it forward, impaling Conner through his back and out his chest. She attempted to scream, but no sound came out. She turned and ran to find help, but no one else was left on the stage. She burst past the curtain to try to get help from someone in the crowd, but all the seats were empty. The entire theater was dark and it looked as though no one had used it in years. She ran backstage once again and found the 'drone was gone; the only presence left was the crumpled form of Conner McKnight on the floor. Silent tears streamed down her cheek as she fell to her knees and reached out to try and find a pulse. None existed to be found, and she, too, crumpled over him, crying and attempting to scream out, but no sound would come.

* * *

Conner McKnight awoke with a start; drenched in a cold sweat, he frantically looked about the room attempting to discern where he was, and in some ways what he was. There was a little light coming from his window, but not enough to clearly illuminate his room. He calmed down after a moment and finally settled his eyes on the clock, but having taken his contacts out to clean them last night was unable to clearly see the time. He reached over for the pair of glasses he kept in his room and put them on just long enough to see what time it was: five minutes until 7 AM.

Conner took a moment to completely regain his bearings before getting out of bed. His mind dwelled on what he had just experienced; he didn't remember many of his dreams, but when he did, they were usually good ones; his usual assortment of dreams involving winning the World Cup, winning the USA a Gold Medal in the Olympics, and recently dreams of intense victories against Mesogog and semi-passionate dreams about Kira… But this one was completely different from the typical. This one felt like an attack on his soul somehow, but he had no idea why. He resolved to tell Dr. Oliver about it later after his soccer practice was over, and maybe see if the others had experienced anything similar when he meets up with them for breakfast.

It was a Saturday morning, and Hayley usually opens the café at 8 on this day, so he resolved to wash away the negative feelings this "dream" had left him with a very long and very hot shower. His mother wasn't awake yet, so he made sure to be quiet about it, and forty-five minutes later he was dressed and heading out the door with a backpack containing his soccer uniform.

* * *

"Conner!"

Kira Ford had no idea how loudly she had said the name; for all she knew, she had screamed it at the top of her lungs. The dream was so intense; it had started out perfect, but quickly spiraled until she felt there was nothing left to live for. Her audience and stage had been taken away, the love of her life stolen from her; even her voice, which was her pride and the one thing she always felt she could count on was lost to her.

She paused in her thoughts. Something was off about that… "Wait…" she said, "did I just call Conner the love of my life? I've never thought of him that way; we haven't even gone out yet." She shook her head to clear it and sat up in bed. It was a quarter after 7 according to her clock. She attempted to puzzle out what her dream could possibly mean but was getting nowhere fast. Unlike her typical dreams, this one she could remember vividly, as if it had actually happened; usually she could revel in them for a few minutes after waking up before forgetting them, but this one refused to go away, despite actively trying to will it away. Realizing an opportunity, though, she hopped out of bed and sat at her desk, reaching into the back of the bottom drawer and withdrawing her diary. She found a suitable pen and turned to the first blank page she could find and began writing…

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_I'm writing this morning because quite frankly I'm a little frightened. I just woke up from a dream that won't go away, no matter how hard I try to forget it._

_Everything was fine at first. I dreamt that I was on the stage of a huge theater that seated thousands, and I was having a blast just singing and being myself on stage. Somehow in the dream world I was in I had just won a Grammy the night before and couldn't have felt better. After the song had ended the band took a break and I walked backstage where Conner was waiting for me. In other dreams I've had it wasn't Conner there but Trent, which I guess makes sense as I had thought I was in love with him for so long that it's only natural I'd want him to be there for me at a concert. Why it was Conner, though… Probably because I'm giving us a chance tonight and going to a movie with him. I know I don't have any feelings for him yet, so why I acted like I did in my dream…_

_Well, anyways, the disturbing thing about this dream happened next. I had just run up to Conner to hug and kiss him when a Tyrannodrone sneaks up behind him and stabs him straight through. I had tried to warn him, to scream out or something, but no sound would come out. I ran back to the stage to get help, but the band wasn't there anymore; it looked like they had all packed up and left already. I walked through the curtain to get someone from the crowd to help, but once again it was empty… The whole place looked like it had been deserted for years. I went back to where Conner lay there, dead, and simply broke down… I felt as though everything I had to live for had been forcibly taken away from me with no chance to ever get it back; most of all that was lost was my heart as the man I had loved in my dream was no longer alive._

_I keep trying to figure out what it all means, but none of it makes any sense. One minute I'm performing in this theater, the next minute it's run down and decrepit and the audience and band are nowhere to be found. One minute I have a perfectly functioning voice, the next minute I can't speak even the simplest of words. Once minute Conner is alive and well and the next minute he's lying on the floor, broken with a giant hole in his chest…_

* * *

She found she couldn't finish writing, as she had broken down upon reliving the memory. This did help, though, as the dream had started to fade away as she wrote down the details; the last part of it she found was still the hardest to get over. Kira figured it was because Conner had become such a big part of her life over the last few months that she would feel his loss so keenly; certainly not because of any deepening feelings she could possibly be unconsciously having for him.

Several long moments later she managed to calm down enough to function again and looked back at the clock. Thirty minutes had passed, which alarmed her as she was supposed to meet the others at Hayley's when it opened. She slammed the diary shut and burst out the door of her room in order to get a quick shower before leaving.

* * *

Hayley had barely opened the café for five minutes when her first customers walked through the door. She smiled as she noticed it was Ethan and Angela walking hand in hand; they approached the counter where Hayley said, "Morning, guys."

"Morning." Angela replied.

Ethan said nothing and appeared to be a bit distracted by something or another. Angela nudged his shoulder and he looked up at Hayley and blinked a few times. "Oh, uh, good morning." He said. Something was obviously bothering him, but he didn't appear ready to volunteer it quite yet.

The door of the café opened again and Devin and Cassidy strode in similar to how the previous two had. They, too, appeared a little troubled, but less so than Ethan was. Waving on their way in, the two walked over to the usual table and took seats already.

Outside the building, Conner had just parked as he noticed Kira running past him on her way in. He jumped out of his vehicle and caught up to her, catching her shoulder and saying, "Whoa, what's the rush there, Rockstar? It's only breakfast…" Kira stopped dead in her tracks when she heard his voice. Spinning on her heels she wrapped her arms around his waist and held him fiercely, which caught him by complete surprise. After a moment's hesitation, he reciprocated the gesture and hugged her back. He could hear a slight whimpering coming from her which caused him momentary panic, as he had no idea why she was doing that. Realizing he should probably say something to calm her down, he stroked her hair lightly and said, "Hey, it's okay… I'm right here…"

The sound stopped and Conner felt her relax slightly in his embrace; she took several deep breaths before releasing her arms and taking a step back. She still looked visibly shaken, but otherwise more normal. She smiled weakly up to him and softly said, "Thanks. It's just, I… I'll tell you when we get inside…" She appeared to be having a hard time deciding between leaving him and going on inside and hanging back to go in with him. Taking another deep breath, she reached out and grabbed his hand, locking their fingers together and turned towards the door, and together they walked into the café. Conner couldn't quite figure out why, but for some reason Kira was craving physical contact with him, and although he thought it was a little strange, he wasn't about to complain.

If any of the others had noticed them walking in holding hands, they didn't say anything. Other than Angela, it seemed each of them had something more on their minds than breakfast, which made Conner wonder if something similar happened to the others as had happened to him that morning. Taking a seat with them, he said, "Hey guys." They all looked up at him but did not answer. "Did any of the rest of you by any chance have a weird dream this morning?"

Ethan, Devin, and Cassidy all got wide eyed at his question, while Kira squeaked and reached for his hand under the table. Angela looked at the others in bewilderment, as she hadn't experienced anything like that the previous night. Cassidy took a chance and spoke first, "Yeah, something like that… I don't remember it completely clearly, but what I do remember is that I felt as though something had been taken from me, and I didn't feel as though I was able to get it back. It was vague, though, and it really went away not long after I woke up."

Kira had felt a pang of jealousy towards the blond reporter, as her own experience lasted well longer than that. Devin picked up where Cassidy had left off. "It was similar for me; just a really negative feeling, like something precious was taken away. Once I woke up and realized it was a dream, the feeling faded."

Everyone looked at Ethan next, and he simply nodded and reached across the table to grip Angela's hand. Conner sighed and spoke next. "For me it was more elaborate; not just loss, but a feeling of hopelessness, cold, and despair. I remember clearly trying to will myself to die to make it all go away." He felt Kira's hand grip tighter when he said this and his mind began putting some of the pieces of her behavior that morning together. He was now curious, but also a little afraid, of what she had experienced in her own dream.

Kira swallowed and bit her lip; the others were staring at her and she knew she had to tell the truth of what had happened, as she had basically just promised to tell Conner when they were outside earlier. She gathered as much courage as she could muster and launched into the story. At first the others seemed content to hear a nice sounding dream, but soon it all turned south as she got into the gory details. She left out the affection for the Red Ranger, as well as the feeling of losing a loved one, opting to let them decide for themselves what the true depth of her feeling was. When she was finished, Conner once again found himself embracing the Yellow Ranger, as she had broken down at the end of her retelling.

Angela had remained quiet as Kira sobbed into Conner's shoulder. After a few minutes of thought, she finally spoke to the group of Rangers. "There's a connection here; all of you dreamt of some kind of loss. For most of you, it was almost ethereal; you weren't dreaming of anything in particular so you simply felt the emotion in its rawest form. Kira, on the other hand, was in the thrall of her own dream when she was affected by whatever it was that happened to you all. This caused her dream to shift in order to convey the feeling; the loss was harsher because it wasn't just a random feeling… it had something to connect to, which made it worse on her." The others nodded in understanding and agreement with her analysis. Kira still hadn't moved, and Conner looked to the rest of them with pleading eyes. Devin could see that the others were at a loss for how to help, so he got their attention and tilted his head in the direction of one of the other tables before standing up and walking over to it; they followed him leaving the two entangled Rangers to sort things out.

Conner realized that this was probably for the best, as he was likely the only one of them that could help Kira through the pain and upset that she was feeling at that moment. He rubbed her back and spoke to her in a soothing voice. "I'm right here, Kira; I'm alive and nothing is going to get the better of me, okay?" She had worked herself down to just sniffling, but still hadn't released him or made any move to back off of his shoulder. He mentally sighed and said, "Tell me what I can do to make this better."

He almost didn't hear her when she answered; her voice was small, as if she didn't have the strength to say what she wanted to out loud. Straining his hearing he heard her say, "Can I… can I stay with you the rest of the day? I just… need to know… need to make sure…"

Conner felt pained, hearing the fear in her voice and knowing that this dream was the cause of all of it. He held her tighter as he said, "Sure, if you don't mind watching me at soccer practice." He released his grip on her and placed both hands on her shoulders in order to gently push her away from him; he leaned his head down to look her in the eyes and said, "Come on, we should order some breakfast before Hayley decides not to serve us; I'm starving as it is." This caused her to crack a very small smile, which was Conner's goal in the first place. He beckoned the others rejoin them and got the proprietress's attention so that they could order some food. The next hour was spent eating and forgetting all about the collective dreams they seemed to have had that morning.

* * *

The restaurant wasn't the same as the last one, mostly because this was an unscheduled meeting. Lily Ford had called the others and asked to meet again a half week early as she had discovered something that disturbed her greatly. It was late morning, but the establishment was still serving breakfast, though she had only ordered a coffee while she waited.

She didn't have long to wait as both Ellen McKnight and Maxine James walked through the door, trailed by two more women that she Lily didn't recognize. She waved to them and they walked over and took seats at the table. Ellen spoke first. "Hello, Lily; these are Deborah Cornell and Evelyn Del Valle. They will be joining us from now on; I've already explained the situation to them about their children, as it seems they have joined our own in their apparent day jobs."

Lily nodded in response, having already figured that they should be involved once it was discovered that Cassidy and Devin had begun "working" with their children. "I have a question for you girls: did your children seem to be distracted or otherwise distressed before leaving the house this morning?"

Everyone but Ellen nodded in response. "I didn't see Conner before he left, as I was still asleep at the time. Why, what's going on?"

"I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but in her haste to leave this morning, my daughter left her diary sitting out on her desk. I'm not usually one to snoop into her business, but I've never seen her leave it out before and couldn't help myself… This morning's entry describes a dream she just had in which she loses three things that are seemingly precious to her: her audience and stage, her voice, and as she put it the man that she loved, not necessarily in that order." She looked at Ellen and said, "The one she described was apparently your son, though she previously had written that she was questioning why her dream depicted him in such a way."

Ellen McKnight had looked away for a moment and said, "Well, they are going to a movie together tonight. Perhaps she has some feelings hidden deeply where she won't even admit to them? I know Conner has been smitten with Kira for quite some time now, even if he never was able to work up the nerve to say anything to her for the longest time."

They were silent for several minutes before Evelyn spoke up. "Devin mentioned something to me about a bad dream this morning, but he didn't go into specifics. I could see in his eyes that it was troubling him far more than he was willing to say, but I chose not to pursue it."

"It was similar with Cassidy this morning," Deborah stated, "she didn't seem herself, as if she were preoccupied with something."

Maxine nodded. "Same here; Ethan was moving around mechanically this morning, and when Angela picked him up to go to breakfast he all but ran out the door as if she were a lifeline for him." She heaved a sigh. "It seems like he might have experienced something like Kira did."

Lily looked around at the assembled mothers and asked, "So what do we do? Should we try to see if we can help them all in some way?"

Ellen shook her head and said, "Nothing directly, as I doubt we have the ability to help in that way, but…" She paused for a moment. "We should be willing to lend an ear to them if they need it; make sure they all know that we are here for them in case they need to talk or have a problem they need to sort out."

A waitress had come around at this point with a small order book; since the women had finished discussing what they had come to discuss, they proceeded to order some breakfast for themselves.

* * *

She was getting nervous just sitting in the stands by herself like that; Conner had entered the school in order to change into his uniform, and every second that she spent away from him felt like an eternity… an eternity in which she could lose him. This thought managed to distract her a little as she sat and waited, trying to figure out exactly what triggered this set of emotions in her. She really couldn't discern what was causing the idea of losing Conner to make her feel that bad of a loss. Every conscious fiber of her being was convinced that she still only saw Conner as her best friend and nothing more, and these apparent urges that needed him somewhere nearby had to have been tricking her in some way or was simply reacting in an adverse way to the gruesome image depicted by that dream…

The players were starting to emerge from the school at this point, and she watched and waited anxiously for any sight of him that she could catch. The ranks of soccer players at the door began thinning and Conner was nowhere to be found, and once again a fear gripped her heart; something must have happened to him in the school! She had to go in and find him; make sure he was alright. She stood up to go when he finally appeared through the door looking none the worse for wear. Kira breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down, watching him warm up and stretch along with the rest of his teammates.

The coach started putting them through drills and Kira once again settled in with her thoughts and tried to puzzle out her recent behavior. She tried to once again assure herself that she didn't have any new feelings for the Red Ranger, and found herself in agreement on that, mostly because it wasn't a new feeling. Confusion swept he mind as she scoured her brain for traces of where that feeling actually first manifested. Further and further back into her conscious memory she went until she identified the first point in which Conner had made her feel a little funny… they were on the run from Tyrannodrones after first discovering the Dino Gems in Dr. Oliver's basement; Conner and Ethan had both easily cleared a jump over a dip in the forest terrain, but Kira missed the mark and stumbled. Conner had realized she wasn't with them and turned around to help her up, and that first physical contact sparked the feeling she had. The act had showed his desire to help those in need and his unwillingness to leave anyone behind; favorable traits where Kira was concerned. It marked the first point that Kira could remember where she had noticed him doing something for someone other than himself.

Okay, so the feeling had been around for a really long while with her unaware of its existence; this proved nothing. She expected it to shrink and possibly even disappear with that mental statement, but instead it just surged stronger and once again she found herself diving into her memories. Rather than seeking out one specific one, though, her subconscious started picking things out at random, showing her instances of times that Conner had said or done something unexpected which paid her compliment or painted him in a new light. Images of her every concert, where Conner was always standing right up in front cheering her on. A lengthy pause was taken at the memory of the music video debacle where Conner was the only one willing to tell her the truth of what he thought about it and had afterwards promised her to always tell her the truth at all times; if ever something came up that he couldn't do so, he would only respond with silence and a pleading eye which asks her not to ask that of him.

She valued his honesty almost more than anything else about him. She quickly learned he was an earnest listener, and over time they were able to talk about almost anything with each other. She cringed inside her mind as she realized that some of the things she spoke to him about were Trent and her attempt at having a relationship with him. It must have torn him up inside having to listen to her prattle on about the boy that he saw as his romantic rival, even if he refused to make a move in that direction for fear of disrupting their friendship.

Realizations dawned on her as memories continued to flood her conscious mind, but still she held onto her belief. Her subconscious mind had had enough, though, and was prepared to club her conscious mind with a blunt object when she was shaken from her mental trance by Conner having sat down next to her and nudging her with his shoulder. She blinked a few times to refocus her eyes, as she had apparently been staring off into space the entire time she had sat there. Conner was once again dressed in his regular casual clothing and the sun was no longer in the same position she remembered it being in only a few minutes ago. The soccer field was cleared of people and equipment, which told her that practice must be over; she must have spent much longer in her own mind than she had originally thought.

"You ready to go?" Kira said nothing to this and still appeared to be reorienting herself with her surroundings. "Are you feeling any better?" he ventured.

Finally she looked up at him. He smiled and she felt her stomach do a backflip; again her subconscious appeared to be trying to tell her something that she was consciously denying. As she stared up into his eyes she could no longer feel the crushing loss from that morning's dream; whatever she had uncovered in her mind had defeated the memory enough to insulate her from the near debilitation that it had caused in her previously. She stood up and said, "Much better. What should we do now?"

"I was originally going to go to Dr. Oliver's to let him know about what happened this morning, but we don't have to if you don't want to."

She thought about it for a few moments before saying, "It can wait until tomorrow, right? I just got past this thing and I don't want to go back to that feeling any time soon…"

He stood and touched his right hand to her left arm. "That's alright with me. Come on, let's go grab a snack someplace and then go check to see what movies are playing; I believe we had a date tonight and I don't intend to let anything ruin that if I can help it." His fingers brushed her arm as he retracted his hand, and she shivered from the sensation.

* * *

Afternoon had passed into early evening, and while the sun was on its way to the horizon it was not yet dark. Kira wasn't ready to go home yet and Conner had suggested they take a stroll through the park. It was calm outside, and Kira reflected on how everything had turned out that day. It started from what felt like the bottom of a dark pit, but slowly she managed to climb out and into the bright sunlight, helped along the way by the one that she always knew she could count on. Conner continued to surprise her as they went on their movie-date; he acted the perfect gentleman, opening doors for her, offering to pay for whatever she set her sights on, refusing to complain at her choice of film to watch and even appearing to enjoy it as much as she did. She wondered if this was a side of Conner that other girls had ever seen, or if this was something he'd been reserving for someone much more special.

As they walked, his actions from the past few weeks continued to nag at her in the completely un-Conner like way in which they existed. Up until they had sacrificed their Gems to destroy Mesogog Conner had a steady public personality which everyone had come to expect; only when in private conversations did he ever let his guard down and stop acting like Reefside's King. After that had happened, everything seemed to have changed in him; he dropped the public persona and seemed to be trying harder to not make a fool of himself in front of her and Ethan. It bugged her a little that he could so easily just make a change like that in such a short span of time.

She'd finally had enough of just wondering about it. "Conner? Why was it that after we beat Mesogog you seemed to change so much? Why have you been acting like something that you're not?"

They stopped walking at this and Conner looked off towards the setting sun. "Don't you mean why have I finally stopped acting?" She wrinkled her nose and stared up at him with a look that clearly said 'what are you talking about?' He sighed. "Kira, you should know that high school is full of expectations and people who look to you to meet those expectations. I'm no different; I'm very good at soccer, and all the other students look at me and see that I'm good at soccer. This brands me as a jock and supplies the expectation that I live up to that title. What makes it worse is that I quickly rose to become the best on the team, thus saddling me with the further title of Reefside's King." He sighed again. "I never actually wanted any of that… I just wanted to play soccer, you know? Sure I have dreams of playing for some big name teams, but I didn't want to actually become as big as I have right now. As of this moment, the hype about me clearly exceeds my actual capacities, and someday that's going to bite me in the butt."

She laughed softly at the mental image he just provided, but quickly stifled it when she noticed a slightly hurt expression on his face. She looked at him apologetically, and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, smiling slightly. "It's okay… This last year actually taught me something, but I didn't choose to use the knowledge I had gained until it was almost over; when we were still active Rangers, we had to more or less put up with each other, and I didn't feel I had to drop the act, even though I knew I could and you guys wouldn't treat me any differently; the act was so ingrained into my personality that it actually took more effort to stop it than to keep it up. Then we lost our powers and I felt like I was about to lose you all as friends, since it was pretty obvious to me that my outward personality completely clashed with all of you… I had to drop it in order to ensure that you guys wouldn't abandon me."

Her eyes widened at this realization. Conner was afraid his closest friends were going to just leave him behind because he could be a little obnoxious and annoying from time to time. "Of course, there was something else I had to break free of at that point, too. I let go of my no-longer-righteous anger and jealousy and made amends with Trent." Kira wasn't sure she wanted to hear this part, since it was directly tied to her own feelings on the matter. Still, she had respected him for choosing to finally become friends with the other boy. "Of course, we all know how that turned out; he actually informed me that night that he had other plans entirely and wasn't going to be around much longer in order to pursue his dream career. He didn't want anybody else to know, though, as he knew at least you would try to talk him out of it. In that moment I actually felt freer than ever, as if I finally had a chance, if only I could be patient enough to wait for the right opportunity to present itself…" He turned his head away slightly. "I'd been contending with the feeling for so long…"

Realizing what he was referring to, curiosity got the better of Kira and she asked, "How long…?"

He looked up into her eyes and felt as though he could get lost in them. "It started as mere attraction, in that moment when you brushed past me after I made that insensitive comment about girls to Ethan while we were wandering the forest looking for something prehistoric." In her mind she relived the memory and clearly remembered her own indignation at his cavalier attitude about women. "The feeling only grew as we walked down that tunnel and I heard you singing for the first time; It was actually driving me a little mad, but not in a 'I'm going crazy' sort of way, but in a 'I'm rapidly falling for you' sort of way… I was so confused at the feeling that I had to make you stop before I said or did something that I'd have regretted later. That's when I called you Babe for the first time." Again, the memory surfaced for Kira and she recalled her fury at him not calling her by her proper name. "Of course, that backfired on me as you told me off for it. No other girl that I had ever associated with had ever done that to me before; that's when I realized that I wasn't just attracted to you anymore.

"Don't get me wrong, I was still so totally confused by the feeling, as I had actually never felt anything like it before. It festered within me for a couple of weeks as I contended with my own issues of being a Ranger; my respect for you rose significantly in that time as I fought beside you and watched as you kept cool in situations that I would have freaked at had I not been upholding my act the entire time. I watched you fearlessly stand up on stage and do the one thing you loved best. You could be yourself and you had no problems with that. I guess I was just a little envious of you at that time, as you didn't have to maintain an act in front of a crowd of people…"

In this moment, she realized that the roles were reversed and now she was the one doing the listening, and he was pouring the entire contents of his heart out to her. Never in her wildest imaginings did she ever begin to think she would understand him on the level that she did now. Something clicked in her mind, and her subconscious breathed a sigh of relief; she looked on Conner with all new eyes and in the fading light of sunset she reached both of her hands behind his neck and pulled his head down towards her. She leaned upwards and in the next moment Conner found his lips locked against hers. The kiss was simple and brief; perhaps not what his imagination had thought their first kiss was going to be like, but he was willing to take what he could get, and one of the things he'd been wanting to do for many months was finally taking place.

Kira, on the other hand, felt a wellspring of sensations from her impulsive action. For one, the act felt to her to have lasted for several minutes, and all throughout it she felt like her heart was rearranging itself. For the first time she consciously admitted to herself that she had deep feelings for the soccer player and in a swift torrent those feelings were pouring out as if to overflow. In the next instant she found herself standing there in each others' embrace, her head resting on his chest and his cheek upon the top of her head. They stood that way for several minutes as Conner worked up his courage. Kira could feel his heart pounding in his chest from where she was resting.

Finally, Conner managed to say, "What does this mean for us now?"

She pulled back a little and looked up into his eyes, her own seeming to twinkle against the minimal light of dusk. "It means that I've finally realized how I've really felt all this time, and am willing to make things work with you for as long as you'll have me…"

These were words that Conner had wished to have heard from her for so long that he actually begun crying once he heard them. She started to frown when she saw the tears, but a huge smile broke across his face and he even laughed a little for how happy he truly felt; for the first time in his life he actually felt as light as a feather and had no desire to come down. He picked her up and swung her around in a circle for a moment before setting her back down and leaning in for another kiss; she gladly responded and moments later they were walking back towards Conner's car hand in hand. Night had fallen and he had made a promise to have Kira home soon, so he drove her back to her house where he walked her up to the front door and stole one last goodnight kiss before heading home himself; the dreams from that morning had been forgotten by all and the Rangers had settled in for what was sure to be a peaceful night.


	14. Clearing the Air

**Author's Notes**: First I need to apologize to you all for complaining about a lack of reviews. I don't do this for them, though they certainly brighten my day when people do leave them. Next I'd just like to say that I had fun with this chapter, though I always seem to have problems finding a good place to end them. Finally, this was my first attempt at really genuinely trying to describe a hand-to-hand fight scene; I hope I haven't screwed it up too badly. As I always say, please leave all comments and complaints in the review box!

**Disclaimer**: Power Rangers is owned by Saban. Power Rangers Dino Thunder was owned by Disney at the time. I only own the words and the story, and a few select characters of my own.

* * *

It was around the same time Kira was having her life altering revelation that Dr. Thomas Oliver was getting settled in for the evening. He had only had to entertain two of his students that day, and for the most part they spent the time trying to puzzle out the reason why everyone had such similar dreams that morning. He couldn't figure it out and apparently wasn't affected by it, and neither was Trent after calling him to make sure. With no answers to speak of, he sent them off with instructions to return tomorrow for training with the whole team.

Tommy's relaxation was cut by the ringing of his phone; he stumbled a little when he read the caller ID and waited half a second to answer it. "Hello?"

A light feminine voice wafted through the handset. "_Hi Tommy. I got some time off for this next week so I can come up. I haven't booked a hotel yet, but I should definitely be there by Monday._"

His mind raced as he processed what she said and fought with itself as he came to a decision. "Forget the hotel, Kim; I have a spare bedroom that's there for just this sort of thing. I could never let a friend of mine have to spend money at a hotel when they're in town, and you just happen to qualify as a friend."

She was silent for a few moments after that. "_Okay, I'll take you up on that offer. I'll try to get in late tomorrow night; could you email me directions to your house from the airport?_"

"Sure, no problem." He stood up and walked over to his office and prepared the directions for her before sending them off. "There you go; I'm a little out of the way, but sometimes you need the privacy…"

She laughed, knowing precisely why he would say something like that. "_Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow then._"

He said his goodbye and then hung up. He still wasn't sure how he was going to handle the situation, as while the two of them had worked out their differences years earlier, things were still somewhat awkward between them. He had managed to get over her eventually, though not before nearly completely ruining his relationship with Kat; they both realized he was still hung up on what happened between him and Kimberly and mutually decided to end things shortly after transferring their powers to the new guys. She figured if he ever got over her completely that they could start over or something like that. Thinking about that actually reminded him to call up Kat and catch up with her; she was among the ones he hadn't spoken with since the island blew up. Resolving to do that tomorrow, he decided to head off to bed so he could start preparing the guest room early the next morning.

* * *

Sunday morning greeted each of the Rangers better than the previous day had. They were all fortunate to not remember anything from their dreams, and had no leftover sensations from whatever they might have been. They were all in much higher spirits for that fact, though Kira was still troubled over something. She reflected on the events of the last night and realized there was something very important she had to do. Her preparations made her take longer than usual to leave for breakfast at the café, and as such by the time she arrived everyone else was already there and eating.

As she walked in they already appeared to be in deep conversation. "So let me get this straight…" she heard Conner say to Ethan, "the idea is to play a video game, not just for yourself but for the entertainment of others?"

"Kind of," Ethan replied, "it's not just that simple, though. The point is to give your own perspective of the game and to take in the suggestions of others. The only problem right now is that we just don't have the technology to make it work well; there isn't a good solution for those who want to share the game through video, and people in general don't have the bandwidth for sharing with screenshots."

This only rose more confusion in the soccer player. "Wait, if you're playing a video game, how do you take a video of it and put it on your computer? Or get pictures of it for that matter?"

"Well, there's two methods you can go with on this: a capture card can be installed in your computer, which you can hook your console to and get the video and audio output from, though it's also the expensive route; the cheaper alternative, however, is also in a kind of murky grey area on the legal side of things." Another description that didn't help Conner's understanding; sighing when he saw this, Ethan continued, "There are software programs called emulators that simulate a game console on your computer. Before you ask how you hook the cartridge to you computer, the simple answer is that you don't; the games you play in emulators are files called ROMs, which are called that because they are directly ripped from the game cartridge's ROM chip."

Now Conner appeared to somewhat understand and nodded as such, but still had questions. "So what's the big deal? Why is it in a legal grey area?"

"These game files are copies of commercially released games, protected by copyrights and whatnot. Downloading them is technically illegal, though there are really three camps on the matter. The first says that it's illegal no matter what; you can only play a ROM file you've managed to rip and backup for yourself, or Public Domain games that people have made and are distributing for free. The second says that so long as you do own the original game you can download the file; they say that there's no need to have expensive equipment needed to do the rip yourself. Finally, the third group says that it doesn't matter for commercial games made for older systems since the game companies aren't making any money off of them, anyways, since they are no longer in distribution."

Cassidy, who had remained quiet and inattentive the whole time, had perked up when she heard the words 'legal grey area' and was now actively listening. She asked, "So, which camp are you in?"

Ethan just stared at her for a moment. "I'm not in a camp; too many compatibility issues for the games I actually like."

Kira had just about had enough, as they had been going on for a number of minutes without much of a break in the conversation. She was thoroughly confused about what they were talking about and desperately wanted to talk to Conner that at that point she simply interjected, "What the hell are you guys talking about?"

They had all finally taken notice that she was sitting at the table with them. Everyone else looked to Ethan, who cleared his throat and said, "It's this new concept for entertainment on the internet called a 'Let's Play.' The idea is that one person plays a video game but makes decisions based on input from others on the internet, and the player would post progress as he or she goes along. It's a concept idea, and I commend the people for thinking it up, but right now technology is a limitation. Maybe in a few years it will catch up enough that the idea can actually get off the ground."

Kira nodded in understanding and turned to face Conner. "Hey, um, Conner? We need to talk… about last night…" She gazed into his eyes and saw fear in them, and immediately felt guilty for wording her request in such a way. Seeing his response made her heart melt a little, as it showed how much he cared for being with her and the impact it would likely have on his heart if she should suddenly decide it wasn't worth it. She grabbed his hand and stood up, saying, "Come on."

They walked over to a secluded corner of the café and took seats at a small table against the wall. Conner's eyes looked cloudy as he said in a shaky voice, "What's going on, Kira?"

Seeing him hurt so hurt her in return. She took both of his hands in hers and said, "Conner, I don't regret anything that happened last night, but after what all happened, it occurred to me that it wasn't fair to you… You poured out to me the entire contents of your heart… and in the interest of doing this the right way, I feel the need to give you the same in return."

Conner shook his head. "You don't have to do anything like that. You deserved to know where my feelings came from and why I had acted the way I had; the only things that matter to me is that I have feelings for you and you have feelings for me."

"Conner, yes I do have to do this, if not for you than for me… I want you to know all there is to know about where my own feelings came from… and it'll help me make sure this is exactly the right thing…" She took a deep breath. "I guess I should start at the beginning. First off, I should say that I, like almost all of the girls at school, was physically attracted to you from the first time I saw you in our Freshman year. Basically the only thing that kept me from approaching you then was that your reputation preceded you, though from what you told me last night, that reputation was not the complete truth. I had no way of knowing that, of course, so the things that you would say and do were quite enough to keep me and many others like me away.

"Cut to the beginning of Junior year. I'm doing something that I've never had problems with before and wind up getting detention for it. I suppose if Elsa had known that terrorizing me that day was going to lead to me getting my Gem and becoming a Power Ranger she wouldn't have done it. To make matters worse, I wound up having to serve the detention with a geek and a jock that I would never have associated with before then had my life depended on it." Surprisingly, Conner did not look hurt for her having said that; perhaps he had come to terms with how she had seen him back then. "Of course, rather than having a normal detention, we get saddled with Dr. Oliver, who's idea of a punishment is taking us to a museum and asking us to walk around it, knowing full well that we might accidentally stumble into his little underground lab full of strange equipment and ancient relics of power.

"Now while we're getting lost, Ethan tries to genuinely be helpful by warning us about sinkholes, and you tell him off for it. I'll admit that I wasn't buying it, either, but then you just had to say something that insulted my sensibilities; and if that wasn't enough, you made the decision to put me over the edge by interrupting me while I was trying to keep myself calm and choosing to call me that stupid pet name that you had given to every girl that ever batted an eyelash at you. I was, needless to say, thoroughly disgusted and infuriated at you.

"I suppose it is fortunate that you stayed in character while we were wandering, though, as thanks to you we managed to break into the Dino Lab and we found our Gems, both of which were entirely your fault. We somehow managed to get out of the tunnels and was attacked almost immediately… then you told us to hold still..." She paused and furrowed her brow. "Why _did_ you tell us to not move?"

He looked away for a moment before lifting his gaze to hers and said, "I, uh, thought that they might be motion sensitive; I figured if we held still they would decide to pass us by and leave us alone."

Kira grinned at his response and shook her head. "We don't live in a movie, Conner. Unfortunately, real life doesn't work that way… I guess after what you told me last night I shouldn't be surprised you thought of that; you're much smarter than any of us have ever given you credit for." She gripped his hands a little tighter and continued. "So we started running, which was something you and Ethan were already better at doing than I was. You both were keeping up pretty well with each other, so I hadn't thought you had realized I was falling behind. When I missed the jump, I really thought that was it for me, but then the most amazing thing happened: you came back for me. I wasn't expecting it, really, and when you did it made me realize something; despite everything that we didn't know about each other, you weren't going to stand for anybody to be left behind, and that deep down you must have wanted to help, since it would have been easier-and much more in character to you-to just cut and run, leaving me and possibly even Ethan behind.

"Of course, I only barely acknowledged the fact that you had done this, at least on the surface; my subconscious had other plans, however. I suppose my steadfast refusal to believe I could have any sort of real feelings for you kept me from being able to express them when they did show up, and they would just get shoved into a secluded corner of my heart to be ignored as much as possible… It was buried so far, I didn't actually know it was there.

"We got back to the school and I handed my Gem to you and Ethan, not wanting anything more to do with either of you or whatever those things were that chased us. Then I got captured." She rolled her eyes at this point. "It was such a stupid situation; I mean, Mesogog didn't even have me tied up. I was able to run out of there with little effort." Conner gave her a look that showed he didn't quite believe her. "Okay, so maybe I had to use my Gem power a couple of times, but honestly that's not such a big deal; I ran until I found a portal and just dived through it. I landed on the Jeep and scared the heck out of you guys, giving Ethan the idea that he can summon people out of thin air at his command and bringing the goon squad to our doorstep. You handed me back my Gem and gave me the strangest smile; not the one that I'd seen you give every other girl in the school, but one that looked genuine, almost relieved."

"I was." Conner said. "I mean, I had no idea where you had disappeared to, and to be honest, I have no idea why we were driving anywhere, as Dr. Oliver had no clue where you were. When you dropped in on us, I was happy just to see you again and in one piece."

It touched her heart how much he had cared for her even back then. "Well, I guess I was relieved to just be alive and out of that place. So we all fought them off and Dr. Oliver told us he'd explain after school the next day… He had to rush it a little since the Biozords were released, and that's when we learned we were destined to become Rangers, which quite honestly scared me half to death, partly from having to take up a fight that I didn't want any part of and partly from having to work with you and Ethan. Still, we managed to tame our Zords and together we managed to take down Zeltrax's ship. Once again, Dr. Oliver was entrusting the safety of the entire world to us, and we all accepted it at the time." Something tugged at the edge of her conscious mind. "Say, why did it take so long for you to tame the Tyranno Zord?"

When Conner looked down and blushed she instantly regretted asking the question, but before she could take it back, he answered her. "I was actually trying to tame him while you guys were, but… it wasn't working. I'll be honest, I had my doubts that it could be done, and it wasn't until I had seen that you and Ethan had managed to do it that I started to believe. I know, it was a mistake, since after all we had super powers and could turn into the freaking Power Rangers, but I still didn't think it was possible to stop the rampaging machines…"

She understood where he was coming from, as he had a history of self doubt when it came to his powers, even though he didn't think he showed it off quite as much as he did. "So anyways, you nearly quit on us, and I really thought that this was going to be so typical of you that you would quit when you were needed; when we needed you. Again, I admit that this was an unfair observation, but how was I to know that at the time. Thank God for that little girl, or else none of all of this might have happened.

"So things continued on; occasionally there would be a battle, but it was usually not a difficult thing to handle. We all got to know each other a little better, and soon we could all more or less call each other friends. Ethan helped the both of us with classwork, and you… I learned that when we aren't in public places you could be an entirely different person, and that person was an excellent listener. You were so easy to talk to, I was so surprised." She stopped and smiled up to him. "Maybe I was stupid to continue to blindly deny that I could have feelings for you all this time, but it was what it was. For all those late night talks that the two of us had… I wouldn't take them back for anything in the world. I had regarded you as my best friend not long after that. It's why what happened next was so painful…"

Conner knew where she was going, as the next event in their topsy-turvy life as Power Rangers was the coming of the White Ranger. He was always a point of contention between them, as once they learned it was Trent who was the White Ranger Conner couldn't help but hate and mistrust him, driving a kind of a wedge between himself and Kira. Conner tried to catch her eye but found her avoiding his gaze. He lifted her hand up to his lips an brushed a light kiss across the top of her knuckles, saying, "It's okay, you don't have to say anything that you don't want to, but if you do, just remember that it's all in the past and doesn't change anything between us."

She shivered and closed her eyes when he did that. This proved something to her that she had wondered about ever since last night: Conner wasn't afraid to show his affection in public, clearly indicating that he wasn't embarrassed being with her. "No, I need to do this; I can't just put in half an effort and expect to be okay with myself." She composed herself and continued. "The White Gem came into play, and we had no idea who it was attacking us, so we tried to keep our guard up as much as possible. Trent was acting a little strange around us, but we never put the pieces together ourselves; it wasn't until I was forced out of morph in front of him that he knew who the White Ranger was fighting, and in that instance he tried to break free, though I know now that it had nothing to do with any feelings he may have had for me so much as I was a friend.

"So he knew he could come to me, and through me he learned of you, Ethan, and Dr. Oliver being Rangers with us. I had told him to wait, but something happened and he wasn't there when we all showed up to try and help him… I had thought he ran away, and couldn't figure out what was going on. You got mad and I went off on you for it, completely as a reaction to your own anger. You were convinced he was doing it on his own, but I tried to get you to understand that he wasn't doing it because he wanted to.

"The next few weeks were living hell. I know you were just trying to protect all of us, especially me, but considering I had put a rather large part of my heart on the line for the guy, you sure sounded like you'd like nothing better than to kill him for his actions as the White Ranger. Even after the meteor rock incident made him completely evil you were a little too bloodthirsty involving him. It took a long time for me to finally stop loathing you and start seeing you as my best friend again; you finally accepting Trent onto the team after he broke the encoding was most of the trigger for that… well that and I had really missed our talks.

"Now I realize how much that time must have been painful for you, since once we were back to talking, Trent was almost all I ever talked about. Still, you listened like you always had, and I thank you for putting up with it all through that time.

"Now I had no idea at the time, but throughout our time as Rangers something in the back of my mind was keeping track of everything that you said and did, and it was keeping a tally of everything involving you that you ever did for me, or said to me that was meant as a compliment… All culminating in that moment when I was showing that awful music video I had made and you were the only one that was willing to tell me what you really felt about it. I mean, I was disappointed in myself for making that video, but I valued your honesty with me, and had I never made it, I'd have never realized that unlike some people-including Trent—you would never lie to me about anything if you could help it.

"Eventually we learned that he was hiding from us the fact that his father was Mesogog. Sure, it wasn't a smart thing to do, but I can see why he would do something like that. Family loyalty is something I can understand, but when Dr. Oliver is one of the oldest living Power Rangers, it's not exactly the best decision to keep something like that from him; he could have helped far sooner than we actually did. In hindsight, that should have counted against him in my eyes, but they were too clouded with stars for me to see clearly.

"The final battles came and we thought we had lost it all… You changed such that even in public you weren't acting like your old self at all. I thought that there was something off about that, but didn't feel like saying anything as that might make you go back to being your old self." She blushed when she said this, clearly embarrassed for admitting it. "I know it was selfish, but what do you want me to say; it was an improvement that even you agree with. Trent went away, but you already knew that he was going, and respected his wishes when he said not to tell anyone. I… I was heartbroken when he told us and then told me that although he tried to see me as more than that, all I was to him was a friend. I needed you to help me sort that out… Just one more thing you've done for me without asking anything in return."

She stared at their joined hands for a few minutes, as did Conner. Finally, he said, "That bring us to… now?"

She nodded and looked up at him. "Yeah; yesterday was something else… My subconscious has been trying to subtly hint that I could see you as more than a best friend for some time now, but until yesterday I hadn't started listening to it. I guess the events of that dream spearheaded the whole thing, as had I not had any sort of deep feelings for you I wouldn't have reacted in that way. I had to analyze my own feelings from within and chose to do that while you were having soccer practice; had you not shook me out of my daze, I might have realized it sooner… it feels as though that was about to happen when you sat down and spoke to me. It was for the better that you came along, though, as I think when I realized it was a better time than the stands at the soccer field would have been."

Conner leaned across the table and pecked her cheek. He sat back and said, "Thank you for being honest with me; I know it's the last thing you ever expected to feel, but I promise you right now that I will never do anything to hurt you, and if at any point in time my feelings towards you should change I will do whatever is in my power to make sure you know as soon as possible; I refuse to string you along just to make you hurt worse for it."

She actually could feel a tear forming in one of her eyes. She closed them and whispered, "Thank you." She found herself leaning forward and halfway across the table their lips met in a kiss whose passion rivaled that of the kiss she experienced in her dream the previous morning.

* * *

"How did we even get on this subject in the first place?" Cassidy could be heard saying as Kira led Conner to the table along the far wall of the café. Ethan watched them in confusion as he was unsure of what was so important that she had to tell him in private.

"I saw some people talking about it on an internet forum and felt like discussing it myself… Hey, what's with Kira and Conner?"

Devin and Cassidy both turned around and saw them in what looked like intense conversation with Conner holding onto Kira's hands like they were his anchor to reality. They looked at each other and smiled before turning back to Ethan. Cassidy said, "Oh, they went on a date last night. We actually went to the same movie they did and tailed them out of the theater for a little while. Once they got to the park and the sun started to set we felt we should probably leave them alone."

Ethan turned to Angela, who didn't look surprised and asked, "You knew?"

She shook her head. "No, not at all; I'm just not surprised in the least. It was painfully obvious that the two of them had it bad for each other but couldn't seem to get the feelings out right. Seems one of them finally made a move…"

They were silent as they tried to watch the two of them without making it obvious. They collectively gasped when they saw Conner kiss her knuckles, then all turned away from them just in case Kira heard them. After a minute, Devin said, "You know? I'm glad for the two of them; they deserve some happiness for a change, and to be honest, I always wondered why they never got together…"

Ethan looked at him and said, "You wondered? I was on a team with them and figured it would happen almost immediately. The fact that it didn't surprised the heck out of me."

Angela smacked his arm. "Honey, you don't know anything about a girl's heart. Things like that don't just happen, and from what I've heard she didn't have a good impression of him right from the start."

Ethan ducked his head sheepishly. "Sorry. I know that years from now you'll still be teaching me new things."

A huge grin broke across her face and she leaned over and captured him in a huge hug. "You have no idea how happy that makes me feel that you see us together years from now. Maybe you don't have so much to learn after all."

He frowned when she said this. "Why wouldn't I see us still together?"

She released him but kept an arm around his waist. "Well, none of my past boyfriends ever took me seriously. I mean, maybe it's just because of your day job, but it still makes me happy that you take our relationship seriously, even if we've only been together for a little over a month."

"Of course I take us seriously; it's not just because I put myself in danger every day, either. You mean so much to me, and we have so much in common… finding someone that has as much in common with me as you do… well, let's just say that I couldn't. You've always regarded me as so much more than a simple computer geek, and you have no idea how much that means to me."

Their moment was cut short by a squeak from Cassidy. They looked up to find her turned to looking at Conner and Kira. Shrugging to each other, they turned to look as well and nearly fell out of their chairs as they saw the two of them, lips locked and going at each other like there was no tomorrow. Ethan and Angela looked over to Devin and Cassidy, and smiles broke across all of their faces. Nodding to each other, Ethan shouted "Go Conner!" while Cassidy shouted "Go Kira!" and Devin and Angela were catcalling them.

* * *

When Kira had finished talking, Conner wasn't sure where else to take things. Then he saw he leaning forward, and something told him that swooping in to capture her lips with his was the right thing to do; so he did. He expected her to be a little surprised, but she wasn't. At first the kiss was more or less chaste, but Conner was feeling adventurous; he ever so carefully prodded his tongue forward, first forcing his own lips apart a little at a time, then moving in to hers, which were already parting a little because of his previous action. When he eased it past her lips, she inhaled suddenly, but then relaxed again and accepted it for what it was.

Kira herself wasn't actually expecting to be making out in the corner of the café that morning, but once it started happening, she wasn't going to complain. '_Blueberries,_' she told herself. It was, after all, his favorite flavor of muffin that Hayley served. What happened next took her by surprise, but after a quick mental analysis she realized she really shouldn't have been surprised, since she could feel his lips parting a little at a time just before it happened. She considered for a second backing off and telling him off for doing that so suddenly, but a moment later she realized that she didn't really mind, and actually reciprocated right back to him, which she could tell actually surprised him back.

Their moment could have lasted hours as far as they were concerned, had it not been for their friends and teammates interrupting them quite loudly. They both broke apart suddenly, and although they were severely out of breath and blushing profusely in their own embarrassment, they both glared in the direction of the other table, which actually made them all break down laughing. Kira intensified her glare, though, and they all quickly shut up. Conner looked back to her and smiled, standing up and holding out his hand to her, which she accepted as she stood up as well, and together they strode back over to their usual table where the others were already seated.

When they had sat down, Conner said, "You're lucky the café is empty this morning."

A voice from behind them said, "Not quite empty, of course." They turned to see who it was and found Hayley standing over them with a broad smile of her own. She reached out and gripped both of their shoulders, saying, "It's about time, you two." They both nodded back to her shyly, their cheeks deepening in color again.

A small plate and a cup was placed in front of Kira containing a muffin and hot chocolate for her. She turned back to Hayley and said, "Thanks; I forgot how hungry I was…"

Kira began digging into it as Cassidy said, "You'd better eat up, as we need to get to Dr. Oliver's after this for our training today. I imagine he'll want to know everything we went through yesterday about those weird dreams we all had, too."

She didn't rush, but she didn't take her time, either. Once she was finished, everyone piled out into Conner's car to once again make that trip up to their mentor's forest home.

* * *

Tommy Oliver had spent the entire morning preparing his guest room. He had accumulated a bit of junk that he was temporarily storing in there, such that none of his students ever actually realized it was a guest bedroom. Finally cleaned, dusted, and vacuumed, it looked ready to accommodate almost anybody, so long as they wanted him accommodating them.

When said students arrived later that morning, he was ready for them, already dressed in his martial arts gi. They changed into some training clothes when they got there and taking them through some basic exercises to get them warmed up and stretched out properly for some sparring. Once they were finished and before Dr. Oliver could pair them all off himself, Kira approached Conner and said, "Spar with me." He gave her a look like he was sure he wanted to do that, so she gave him a look in return that basically warned him to not even try making an excuse. They stood about three meters apart and bowed to each other before assuming standard opening stances that Dr. Oliver had taught them. Kira attacked first, making sure to leave openings for him to take advantage of, and was more than just disappointed that he didn't take them. She hopped back and said, "You'd better not be holding back on me; I'm not going to, so you'd better watch out, because I don't want to hurt you… but I will if you don't defend yourself!"

She leapt and spun a kick towards his face, which he just barely dodged to the left where he caught her foot and flipped her backwards. She landed on her feet and grinned, resuming her stance and advancing again, this time lashing out with some short jabs that were meant to force him to block in the way she wanted him to; he did just that, catching her fists exactly as she had planned. While he was distracted, she hooked her leg under his and yanked, sending him sprawling backwards. He reacted swifter than she thought he would be able to, and for a moment she thought he had used his power, but the Gem hadn't glowed as he moved so she had to be content knowing he had gotten faster recently. Rather than hitting the ground, he spun and rolled for a moment before landing in an awkward crouch.

Now it was his turn to attack. He sprung towards her, launching himself much higher into the air than she thought he should be able to from where he was just a moment ago; realizing there wasn't much more she could do, she ducked down under him and rolled forward in the direction he had came from. Conner had expected this, however, and turned himself in the air and had barely tapped the ground before springing in her direction again; she was barely on her feet again before he started throwing much-too-fast punches in her direction, which she barely dodged and blocked in time, each one coming a little faster than the last. Kira was being forced backwards and she could find any openings with which to begin countering his assault.

Finally she saw something irregular in his stance, as it was much wider than usual. Using momentum from one of her dodges, she dove between his feet and launched a kick at his behind, causing him to fly forwards and sprawl on the ground. Faster than he could react, she jumped over and sat on his back, pinning him to the ground. Despite her being quite a bit smaller and lighter than him, he didn't make any attempt to get her off of him. When she finally looked up to see how the others were doing, she found that no one else was sparring, but was instead just standing there watching them.

Tommy blinked at them a couple of times and said, "What was that all about? You two have a fight or something?"

Kira grinned back up to him and said, "Nope, just teaching my boyfriend here not to take me lightly."

Now Tommy looked confused as he processed what she had just said, and then smiled when he realized what it was. "It's about time he said something; it's painful watching a Red Ranger giving up."

"As riveting as this is, could you please get off of me? It's starting to get uncomfortable…"

Blushing as she stood, Kira extended a hand for the young man, which he took graciously. For a split second, he considered pulling her to the ground and pinning her in a similar fashion, but decided against it.

Tommy clapped his hands together and said, "Well that was a great session. What do you say we cool off inside and you lot can tell me some more about this dream thing that happened to you all."

They filed into the house and down through the trap door into the basement. They sat around and retold each of their stories concerning the strange dream each of the Rangers had the previous morning. Kira had less trouble this time, though Conner still kept her hand in his for support. When they were all done, Tommy made a face and said, "This stinks of something Mesogog tried on us some time ago… Remember your Christmas monster, Conner?"

Conner adopted a horrified expression when he mentioned that abomination. "Please don't talk about that, Doctor O.; I just got over that thing a few weeks ago…"

Ethan nodded, though. "Yeah, Mesofreak attacked us in our dreams; everyone but Trent was affected because he was pulling an all-nighter at the café. Thing is that they sent actual monsters after us in those, and we were able to beat them in our own dreams. This is completely unlike that…"

Devin frowned. "What if the Mesogog we're fighting now isn't the same one you guys fought? What if it's someone claiming to be Mesogog and using some of his own ideas, but trying to attack us in other ways?"

"Fat lot of good that did." Kira said. "All it really did was disturb you guys a little and cause me to finally see Conner the way my subconscious has been trying to get me to see him." She looked up into his eyes, smiled, and scooted a little closer to him; he lifted his arm and draped it across her shoulders. The others rolled their eyes at the show offs.

"You guys have any more unexplainable or disturbing dreams, you come to me; I'll talk to Hayley and see if we can't figure out the source or how to prevent them… Who knows? Maybe it's not an attack so much as your Gems are giving you all new powers?" He grimaced as they all got wide eyed and looked at each other as if to take it seriously. "It was a joke you guys! Geez… you guys are way too serious…"

None of them found it funny, though, and they all walked off, leaving him in the lab, alone and wondering what happened to his sense of humor.

* * *

The sun was setting. She looked at the directions again to verify which road she was supposed to turn on; it seemed as though she had been driving forever in this one direction without a single turnoff anywhere in sight. Wherever Valencia Road was, it sure didn't want her finding it.

Finally, the road seemed to be coming to an end, and here at this T-intersection was Valencia road. She turned to the right and started following this road; he supposedly lived up here, though as the scenery shifted from countryside to forest she started becoming disenheartened. She was prepared to pull over and call him up when she saw the cabin; it was almost completely blending in with the surroundings, and only her excellent eyesight helped her to differentiate it from the rest of the trees. Deciding this had to be his house, she pulled up the drive and parked the vehicle next to the black Jeep.

She climbed out of the rental car and walked up to the door, buzzing the doorbell a couple of times before turning around to admire the depth of the woods surrounding this place. She turned back when she heard the door opening and laid her eyes on Thomas Oliver for the first time in years. He had changed dramatically; the last time she had seen him he still had long hair and was wearing predominately red. Now his hair was trimmed short and spiked and he was sporting a small goatee; his clothes were all black and his old trademark earring was missing. Finally, he appeared even slightly more buff than before, which was something she hadn't thought possible.

"Are you just going to stand there admiring me all night, or are you coming in, Kim?"

She blushed at his candid observation and said, "Actually, I was just making sure this was the right house first; I've got to go get my bag." She turned around and traipsed back to the car where she reached in and grabbed the bag, making sure to make a show of her bending over to pick it up. Tommy rolled his eyes as she did that, silently wondering if she was just teasing him or if she was trying to tell him something. Kimberly walked back up to the porch and said, "Got it."

"I can see that. Let me show you to your room." He led the way upstairs to the room across from his own bedroom and walked in. She followed him in and set her backpack down on the bed. "Packing light, aren't you? That can't possibly hold all the clothes you brought for the whole week."

She stuck out her tongue at him and said, "It's only a week; I've grown out of what I used to be, you know, plus with all the new security stuff at airports nowadays, it's easier to get by with fewer bags."

She walked over to Tommy and reached up to touch his hair; she stood extremely close to him as she did this, which caused him to sigh and say, "Kim, what are you doing?"

She smiled and replied, "Just wanted to know what this felt like…" She left what she was talking about open ended enough that he genuinely wasn't sure which she meant.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and said, "That's enough, Kim. We can't do this; we can't act like we used to ten years ago. You've changed, I've changed…" She backed off and looked towards the floor guiltily.

"Sorry. I guess there's always that small part of me that wants that back."

He sat down on the bed. "Yeah, there's always a small part that wants that. Thing is, I managed to get over you and everything years ago; I've moved on and no longer have that old feeling anymore. When I see you now, it's as a friend that I haven't seen in seven years." He grinned up to her. "That's not to say that more can't happen between friends, but that depends on us getting to know each other all over again. Who knows? We might have both developed habits that the other can't stand, so it's probably a good thing to figure that out before jumping into anything."

He stood up and she smiled back at him. "You're right. I already don't like your hair, so that's a start." She yawned. "Ugh, jet lag. It's well beyond when I normally sleep… guess I should catch up on some, huh?"

Tommy walked up to her and embraced her tightly. "Good night Kim. I'll show you around and let you meet the kids tomorrow."

She returned the hug and said her good night as well, and they both settled in for the night.


End file.
